An Intermission
by Fleeting Vapor
Summary: A series of Noblesse one shots that are completely unrelated. Ongoing.
1. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**An Intermission (Part 1)  
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When he spoke of his friend, the faintest of lights would glitter in his eyes, and he slowly came to life like the melting snow bringing in the spring. In these moments, when his heart was light and his voice echoed with laughter, he told of his dearest memories. Their promises, their names. In theses moments, he felt the most alive. The most afraid. Soon, as surely as spring came, the snow would fall again like night conquering the day. Still, he couldn't resist when Regis came, curious and unwilling to ask and so much like him. So when the child finally did say what was on his mind, the question pierced him.

It was innocent enough. The mind control. How did he resist? The answer, also innocent. Practice.

Then Regis met his eyes with an expression that froze him. "Who did you practice with?"

"My friend, an experiment like me." It was vague and unyielding, but he was too close to the truth.

"If your heart is that of a werewolf..."

"Yes." M-21 whispered as the chills of winter set in. "His ability is that of a noble." And he closed his eyes, wishing the next words never came.

"Do you think he could be tied to my father?"

"I can't say."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**An Intermission (Part 2)**

"The children have invited me to attend a pool party." Rai gently intertwined his fingers around the teacup handle and savored the aroma. It smelled sweet and floral like a garden in bloom. "They said I must have the appropriate attire."

"My lord, did you accept the invitation?"

"Yes." The teacup floated down to the saucer as Rai's eyes gazed up at him. "You are concerned."

"Yes, my lord." Frankenstein whispered without trying to deny it and chose his words carefully. He curved his voice into soothing tones to let his master down easily. "A pool is a manmade body of water that humans use for recreational activities."

"I see." Rai sipped his tea with disinterest.

"The main activity is to swim."

Rai lowered the cup again and, after a moment of hesitation, mustered a slight nod.

"The attire for men is what one would call 'swimming trunks.' It is a pair of pants cut off at the knee. No other clothing is worn with this article." His heart sank as he watched his master's eyes widen in dismay, and no amount of soothing words could lighten this for him. "The sole purpose of this clothing is to wear it in water. My lord, shall I purchase this for you?"

His cheeks burned a vibrant red.

Frankenstein ventured a smile. "If you prefer, you could also decline the invitation."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Hunted**

It landed on the roof of a car and pointed its nose upward to sniff the air. M-21 forced his eyes not to search for where it had jumped from. How it got there wasn't important. Why it was here in the middle of the city far out weighed any other question. He had never seen one so close before, and the nearness of the animal caused his heart to race. Catching a scent, the wolf turned its head toward him and dropped to the ground. The fur on its neck rose rigidly as it circled to the left. M-21 cautiously slid back a step and pivoted his body to make a quick escape. A low growl cut off his path from behind. _Two wolves._ M-21 kept his eyes on the first wolf while listening for any movement from the second, but a growl from his right brought a third wolf. He was being hunted.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine!

A/N: This is... yeah. I was having trouble writing a different fic so I threw this together just to try something else. It's just a scene.

**Rawr**

"Rawr!" She shouted happily and bounded across the room in a flash of pink ribbons and pig tails. "RAWR!"

"Why is there a kid here?" M-21 held up his hand to keep the child from approaching. "What does it want?"

"It's Yuna's second cousin. _She _wants you to roar back." Tao shouted from down the hall and quickly appeared with a brown toy dog. "This is the only toy I could find in the house. Try it. It's fun."

"I'm not good with kids."

"When have you ever seen one?" Tao held up the puppy and made roaring noises as he chased her around the living room. She ran from him in a fit of giggles. "I've never been around anyone so small, but I can handle a two year old."

"Yeah? I at least know puppies don't roar."

"Ah, right." Tao held out the dog. "Bark! GROWL!"

"Stop it!" She swapped at the puppy's head.

"What did I do?" He dropped the toy and glared at M-21. "You made me scare her!"

"Stop yelling. You're going to scare her more."

"Come here, Jin Ae!" Tao smiled and held his arms open wide. "Don't listen to that scary ajussi. You love your oppa, right?"

"No!"

"Just give her back to Yuna."

"She's outside helping her cousin with an emergency. I said we'd watch the kid for a couple minutes, and everyone else left instead of helping me."

"Yeah? Well I got to go, too. Have fun with the kid." M-21 pulled on his coat. "And take her shoes off in the house. Frankenstein will kill you if he finds scuff marks on his floor."

"Uncle Franky wouldn't do that, would he, Jin? No. Now come to your oppa!"

"Why are you talking like that?"

"That's how you talk to kids."

"Well, 'Uncle Franky' would kill you if he heard you call him that."

"Stop talking about death in front of the kid. You're scaring her." Tao wrangled the girl into his arms as she tried to shove him away.

"You're the one that scared her." M-21 slipped on his shoes.

"You're going outside, right? Give this to Yuna for me." Tao tossed him a diaper bag then dropped the girl at his feet before running from the room.

"Hey! Don't just dump the kid on me!"

"Thanks, M-21!"

M-21 hoisted the bag on his shoulder and pulled open the front door. "What are you waiting for? Let's go."

She bolted through the door, across the yard, and into the street.

"Hey, come back here." He dropped the bag when she didn't obey and ran after her. "I said stop!"

"Jin Ae!" Yuna scooped her into her arms and turned back to M-21. "You have to hold her hand if you're not going to carry her. She could have gotten hurt."

"I… I didn't know."


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**You Can't Drive a Car?**

"I can't do it." M-21 carefully dropped the set of keys into Frankenstein's palm and stepped away with his hands raised in refusal. "I've never done that before."

"You can't drive a car?"

"A low rank agent like me? I was never issued one."

"Shall we have a lesson, then?" Frankenstein rattled the keys with his fingers.

"What? You're going to teach me?"

"Have you forgotten that I am the headmaster of a school? I am able to teach."

"It's not that. It's just…"

"Nonsense, get in the car." Frankenstein slid into the passenger seat and returned the keys to M-21. "First, you will need to adjust your mirrors."

"Okay, got it."

"Put your seat belt on."

"If we got into an car accident, it wouldn't really hurt us."

"All the more reason to wear one." Frankenstein clicked his own seat belt into place. "Walking away unscathed after being thrown from a vehicle is difficult to explain."

"Oh, okay. That makes sense." M-21 put on his seat belt and waited for Frankenstein to give the next command."

"Place your left foot on the petal for the clutch and your right foot on the petal for the brake. Turn the key and move the clutch to first gear. Once you have done that, release the brake and clutch and lightly press down on the gas petal. Very lightly."

M-21 grabbed the clutch and shifted it left then up into first gear. Now, apply the gas and-

Clunk-Clunk-Clunk.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and stared forward. Even without looking, he knew the expression that must be on Frankenstein's face. "Um, I think it died."

Frankenstein pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "When you let up on the clutch, do so _slowly_ while pressing down the gas. If you do it all at once, it will kill the engine. Try it again."

"Yeah, okay." M-21 gently lifted his foot from the petal this time, and the car crept forward without complaint. "We're moving!" He glanced at Frankenstein happily, but the man seemed unimpressed.

"Keep your eyes on the road."

"Yeah, sure."

"Hear how the engine sounds a little higher pitched now? That means it's time to switch gears."

"Got it." He pulled the clutch back into second gear.

Squeal-Clunk-Clunk-Clunk.

The engine died and M-21 brought the car to a stop. "What did I do that time?"

"You stripped the gears. You have to press in the clutch _every_ time you change gears or use the brakes."

"Want me to try again?"

Frankenstein lovingly stroked his fingers along the armrest. To put his precious, new, expensive car through such abuse… Was it worth it? Anything for Master. It was an acceptable sacrifice. "Yes, go ahead."

"You know, Tao and Takeo are skilled at this sort of thing. If you don't want to teach me, either of them could do it."

"Get out of my car."

...BREAK...

Tao pulled the chauffeur's hat low over his eyes. "Why did you give me this?"

"It is imperative to your new assignment."

"Like a disguise?"

"Of sorts." Frankenstein smiled and turned to face Rai. "Master, Tao is now prepared to drive you anywhere you wish to go."

Rai set his tea cup in the saucer and approached Tao. "Ramen."

"Ah… Yes, of course."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Something to Give**

"I can't believe they were hiding it all this time!"

"Calm down. If they hear-"

"And so much!" Yonsu paced the balcony in small circles. She cleared the deck and only stopped for a split second to spin around at the rail. "You saw how strong they are! And the headmaster! He has powers, too. We didn't even notice!"

"Yonsu-"

"If the KSA had agents like him, we could have prevented all of this!" She hit the opposite rail and turned around again. "We spent all of that time recruiting students when we should have been recruiting them!"

"Please, don't bring that up." Sangeen sunk his head low and rolled his shoulders forward. The rail supported his weight as he leaned on his arms. His wife moved behind him, eagerly making another round, and for once, her passion disheartened him. She would not be able to leave this one alone.

"You okay?"

His head snapped up at the tenderness in her voice. She stood next to him with a stillness that she rarely portrayed, and her hair hid her face from him as she stared into the gardens. He didn't need to see her expression to know what was on her mind. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I didn't know there were people like them." The wind caught in her hair, and she tucked it behind her ear thoughtlessly. "If they side with us, we'd be able to protect our country. We wouldn't have to-"

"We shouldn't rely on them." Sangeen followed her gaze to the gardens below. The sent of flowers stirred with the breeze, but the plants were masked by darkness.

"What?" Her eyes hardened into a glare. Even hidden from his sight, he realized this, and she softened them with great effort. "But they offered us an alliance! You saw how strong they are!"

"They're too strong. We have nothing to offer them in return."

"We're letting them stay here. That was the condition for their support."

"We don't have the ability to make them leave."

"Sangeen…"

"And we will only be a burden to them."

"That's not true. We're not as powerful as they are, but we still-"

"We're already a burden on them." His fists tightened into balls. He took a deep breath and calmly loosened them. "They were dragged into this fight because of me. Would they be so gracious to us if one of them had died? It could have happened easily. We can't help them in anyway. We don't even have KSA resources because I-"

"Sangeen, that's not your fault!"

"We're not going to be able to repay them, Yonsu. I don't understand why they're helping us."

"What makes you think we expect something from you?"

They both swung around at the sound of his voice. Yonsu, as always, was the first to speak. "You were eavesdropping!" The accusation in her tone was undeniable.

"I can't help it if you're talking that loudly." M-21 smirked, matching her fury step for step. "Everyone could hear you."

"So you were the only one that didn't realize this was a private conversation?"

Sangeen gently touched her arm as a reminder to watch her words. She shrugged it off angrily.

"No, I just lost the vote on who would shut you up."

"I'd like to see you try." She stepped forward with a smug grin.

"Yonsu!"

M-21 looked past her at Sangeen. "None of us are here because of anything we can offer. It's nothing like that. You can't give them anything."

"I understand."

"Yeah, then keep it down."

"Alright."

"What was that about?" Yonsu glowered at M-21's back as he joined the others in the living room, but she kept her voice low.

"I think he means that even if we did have something to give, they wouldn't want it. That's just how they are."

"That so?" She murmured even more softly.

Sangeen smiled faintly, enjoying the quiet. In a moment, his wife would realize that she had just lost to M-21 again, and no one would have any peace for the rest of the evening.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Something to Give (A Continuation)**

Yonsu stomped into the living room and placed her hands on her hips. "What do you mean you lost a vote? Like I'd believe that coming from you."

"Believe it or leave it." M-21 set his tea on the coffee table and glanced up at her. "Either way, leave me out of it. It's not like I have any desire to talk to you."

She clenched her fists tightly. "If you're looking to start a fight-"

M-21 shot Sangeen a look. "She's your wife. You deal with her. I'm done with this."

"You-" Yonsu grit her teeth.

"Who votes for Sangeen?" M-21 lifted his hand. No one else voted.

"Sangeen can't do it. He just lets her do what she wants." Tao grinned and snapped his laptop closed. "All for M-21?" He raised his own hand, and the others followed. Even Rai looked up at him. "You lose. M-21, go take care of it."

"I already did this once!"

"Then you know what you're doing."

"I am not going to take care of her again."

"Ya want to try?" Yonsu narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her stomach. "Afraid to take me on again?"

M-21 caught Regis' eye. The boy nodded.

"Heh."

"What are you laughing at?" Yonsu spun around. "I'm not going to fight a child. You can forget that."

"Between us, who's the child?"

"Don't go bragging about your age." M-21 scoffed.

Regis stepped forward, ready to take him head on. "Can't handle that I'm older?"

"Even if you are older than us, you're still a brat."

"Enough, you two." Takeo interjected, catching onto the plan.

They both settled down to their tea. As long as they could shift the arguments away from Yonsu, they could control how long it lasted. And until she realized this, they could enjoy the peace a little longer.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**RK-4 Rock Band**

"This is," Takeo curved his fingers under the collar and pulled it away from his neck, "a bit tight."

"I can't breathe, either." Tao offered him an apologetic smile as he sat behind the drums. "The things we do for the fans..."

"At least you don't have to sing." M-21 tapped the microphone with his fingertips. "Sound check. Testing. One-two-three. Testing. Give me a little more volume on the left speaker."

"You got it!" Someone called from off stage.

"Testing. One-two." M-21 leaned in, hooking both hands around the mic. "_What if I'm not the same? What if I never let go of the blame?_ Still need a little more volume on vocals. _What if you drag me back again?_ _What if I would let you just pretend? _That sounds good. Keep with that."*

"Regis here yet?" Takeo strummed a few chords on his bass. "I think I have a loose connection."

"He's in the sound booth with Frankenstein." Tao beat out a steady rhythm on the bass drum and twirled the drumsticks between his fingers.

"Careful doing that. You dropped one last time."

"I have a spare set under the drum stool."

"Sorry, I'm late!" Regis plugged his electric violin into the charge amplifier. "I'm ready for the sound check."

"Heh, first time on stage with us and you're late?" M-21 smirked. "What are you wearing, brat?"

"A suit, of course."

"A suit for a rock band?" Takeo sighed. "And the rest of us are dressed like this?"

"At least one of us can breathe!" Tao let the bass fall silent. "Lookin' good, Regis. Dressing like a punk doesn't suit you anyway."

"Tao, what happened to your head?" Regis set the violin under his chin and slid the bow across the piezoelectric pickups. It sang smoothly. He switched to a faster tempo to suit the style of music.

"Oh, this?" Tao turned his head to either side. "I just spiked it with some gel."

"You ready?" M-21 pulled the mic from the stand. "Tao, lead us off."

Tao lifted the drumsticks above his head and struck them together in time. "One-two-three! Let's go!"

A/N:

*_The Outside_ by Red

I know nothing of music. If the terms are wrong, just ignore it.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

A/N: This is a bit unexplained. Frankenstein is alone in the mansion just after Rai first disappears 820 years ago. He believes that the others have not realized this yet. Roctis, being among the traitors, already knows the truth. He comes to check on Frankenstein, to see if Rai returned home after the fight. Or you could just see it as a random conversation based off of their first meeting. Either works.

**Roctis**

He moved silently. Each step soundless as he glided across the stone floor without so much as a rustle of cloth. Shadows enshrouded him like a cloak, and he waited in their depths for the perfect distance, far enough to remain disclosed and near enough to entice surprise. He took one step forward into the light with a carefully executed remark floating on his lips. These words were always the first sound, the first revelation of his presence, and the layers of his voice dripped with double meaning like an under current surging through calm waters, lighthearted on the surface but dark and threatening beneath.

"Frankenstein," his voice resonated in the empty chamber, "I am glad to see you are in good health."

"Roctis Karvei." Frankenstein flattened his own tone to show no spectrum of emotion. "What is your purpose for hiding in another man's house?"

A pause. A moment of amusement. Of toleration. A silence to assert that the question did not deserve an answer. Always, he spoke by what was not said. "And your master is also well, I trust."

_Master._

"I have come to see him." Roctis announced, throwing his cloak back over one shoulder. Silence then the sound of it sweeping against his back like a flutter of wings.

"He isn't here."

"I see." He turned on his heals. The cloak falling again to his side with the curt motion. "I will come again when he returns to you. Stay well until then." A glance. A hidden meaning. A silence. And he was gone.

_Where was Master?_ Frankenstein watched him go. _How long until the nobles realized he was gone? Or did they already know this?_


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**This is a nonexistent scene from "I Am Tao." If you haven't read it, just skip over this. I mean it. It won't make sense, and it'd be a spoiler. **

**If you have read it,** this is placed during the time Suyi and Hansu first enter the dressing room until Jameson moves her to his private office. Rated K+ for implied sexual references/harassment. It's just Hansu being a creep. Nothing all that bad.

**Creep**

"This is the dressing room." Jameson waved his hand in a quick circle in the air. "There's no costume changes or anything, so it shouldn't be a problem it you share. Is that alright?" He glanced at Suyi, and she nodded her approval. The boy looked irritable already. "You got a problem with that?"

Hansu glared, seething that Jameson did not ask his permission first. Yeah, he had a problem with it. Of course he did. He was a star. He deserved his own dressing room. Then again, Suyi was a pretty, docile girl. Alone with a girl like that? Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. "No problem at all."

The tone sounded conniving even for a simple question. Jameson watched him for a second and glanced back to Suyi. Were celebrities always like this? It wasn't very different from the union. "There are snacks on the counter. Remote's on the couch. That's about it."

"Thank you so much. We appreciate it." Suyi smiled and grabbed the remote. The news would start soon, and the special feature on Ye Ran would play tonight. Hopefully, it would come on before she had to make her first appearance. Once she started work, her time belonged to her fans.

Appreciation? She appreciated it? He was a man under orders. A subordinate. No one appreciated him, and they certainly didn't thank him. Commands were commands. He simply obeyed. Jameson pulled on the edge of his jacket. It felt tight and restricting against his shoulders. How should he respond? He wasn't good at this sort of thing. "It, uh, it wasn't any trouble."

"Of course it wasn't any trouble. You didn't put much effort into it." Hansu scanned the small buffet on the counter. "Muffins, cookies, bagels. Did you buy this last minute from of a grocery store?"

That's exactly what he had done. "You want something else?"

"Yeah, caviar." Hansu flopped on the couch and laid back so that his head rested on one arm and his feet on the other. "Go get some."

That brat. Jameson looked at Suyi again. Maybe he shouldn't leave her with that man, but he didn't have a choice. His superior needed him to do his job right now, not baby-sit a couple of teenagers. "I'll be back to check on you if I can."

Hansu waited until he left to turn his sights on Suyi. "So, I haven't seen you in awhile. Why don't you come over here so we can chat?"

"There isn't much room."

"That's alright. I'll let you sit on my lap."

Did he… Suyi turned away and slowly searched through the items on the buffet. Junk food, all of it. "I think I'll pass."

Hansu laughed and tucked his hands under his head. "I'll just watch you from here. Body like yours, I could watch you all night… Or do you want me to come closer?"

Her cheeks burned. She must be blushing. Suyi selected a cookie and set on a napkin. Anything to not look back at him.

"Quiet, aren't you?" He rolled onto his side. "I don't mind if you don't want to talk. There are plenty of other things we can do."

The suggestive tone in his voice made her cringe. Suyi nibbled the edge of her cookie, but her mouth felt too dry to swallow. "Being near you is unbearable enough. Do I really have to talk to you, too?"

"You tease." Hansu grinned. "You're blushing just thinking about it."

"You're going a little far, aren't you?" She tried to sound more assertive than she felt.

"How far do you want me to go?"

"Hansu, you're such a creep sometimes."

"Excuse me." A curly haired blonde peeked into the room and sipped coffee from his 'Number 1 Dad!' cup before introducing himself. "Hey, I'm Mark from the security department. Jameson sent me in to check on you two. Everything okay?"

"Perfect." Hansu's didn't try to hide the annoyance in his voice. "Another one."

"We're fine, thank you." Suyi used the interruption to further distance herself from her costar. "Won't you come in?"

"Thanks, that's sweet, but my wife might be jealous if I spend too much time with other women, especially idols!" He winked and frowned when she didn't laugh. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, I'll be fine."

"Well, if you say so… Tell you what. I'll make you some coffee." Mark tapped the side of his cup. "Would you like that?"

"Bring me a drink." Hansu sat up, already planning to get rid of him. "Something stronger than coffee."

"Aren't you a little young?"

"That doesn't matter in my line of work."

"I'll get right on it!" Mark smiled happily, obviously intending to ignore the request and turned to Suyi. "But I will have your coffee soon."

"Thank you."

"Not at all." He left them behind and ran into Jameson's office. "Sir, you're right. I think something's going on in there. The girl did not seem comfortable at all. I promised her coffee. Do you want me to go back?"

"No, I'll handle this." Jameson cleared the confidential information from his desk and locked it in the drawer. If the situation was bad enough, he would bring her back here. He didn't have much time before his meeting with Mr. Ruze. If he was going to save her, he had better do it now. If that Hansu hurt her, he would pay for his actions.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Rai's point of view. Unfinished. Just playing around.**

Shades of red taint my vision in soft, swirling hues as if, in my eyes, it is always twilight. Crimson is as constant as a single chord endlessly playing the same few notes, yet it is simple and beautiful. This is how I see you. I touch the teacup to my lips as I listen to your words, and I decipher between what is said and the meaning behind it. I hear both when you speak. The words and the meanings. You talk casually with an air of rapture, but the weight of your thoughts and feelings presses down on me as heavily as it does on you. Such a burden buried beneath your joy surprises me, and I wonder why you hide this. I am aware you wish the words alone to be known, and I will respect your decision with my silence.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Stand In**

M-21 glanced at Regis in the rearview mirror. "You nervous?"

Regis watched the streetlights through the window as they illuminated him and faded away every few seconds. "A little."

"You'll be fine." He returned his eyes to the road and pulled into the school parking lot. "We're here. See anyone you know?"

"Shinwoo." Regis waited with one hand poised on the handle. Other children mingled outside the entrance with their families. Shinwoo was laughing as he roughhoused with a red haired man. That must be his father.

"If you want to sit in the car for a few minutes, we can wait here."

"No, I don't want to be late." Regis pushed open the door and slammed it closed. M-21's door echoed his. "What are you doing?"

"You didn't really think I'd let you go alone?" M-21 slipped a top hat over his hair and pulled on a set of white gloves. "I even dressed up."

"You're overdressed." Regis followed M-21 to his classroom where he would check in with his teacher. Other students already filled the area. Suyi was in the corner, chatting with Yuna and her mom. Ikhan hadn't showed up yet. "Your work uniform would have suited the occasion."

"I didn't dress up to fit the occasion." M-21 tapped his fingers to the brim of his hat. "I dressed up to match the person. Classy kid like you needs a classy chaperone."

"Chaperone?"

"This is where I drop you off." M-21 smirked and tipped his hat to the girls. "Look for me in the audience."

"Regis?" Yuna approached him as M-21 left. "Where are Rai and Seira?"

"They did not wish to come."

"I suppose I wouldn't want to come, either, if my mom wasn't here. Not that I mean-"

"It's fine."

"I'm sorry. Shinwoo talked you into this, right?"

"Everyone, line up." Pedro shouted above the chatter and scanned the clipboard in his hand.

"I have to go stand with the parents now." Yuna's mom kissed the top of her head and followed the few remaining parents from the room.

"That is your mother?" Regis asked, falling in line behind Yuna and Suyi.

"Yeah, she came to give me my award."

"Regis, where's Seira?" Pedro looked up from his clipboard. "The leading lady should be the first in line."

"She's not coming."

"Leading male." Pedro searched the room. No where. He stepped out into the hall. "Shinwoo, get in here!"

"I'm coming!" Shinwoo ran in, dragging Ikhan along behind him.

"Suyi, you're after Shinwoo. Yuna, you're after her. Then, the seven dwarfs. You can select your own order. Followed by Rai. Did he skip, too?"

Regis nodded.

"I guess I can't blame him." Pedro crossed the absentees off his list. "Is everyone in line? Alright, let's go."

"I'm surprised you came." Ikhan whispered as they moved down the hallway toward the auditorium. "I almost stayed home, but my uncle volunteered to come with me."

"Shinwoo begged me." Regis forced a reluctant smile. "I couldn't turn down his request."

"Well, you're brave."

"Everyone, quiet!" Pedro stopped outside the door. "When your role is called, walk across the stage and accept your award from your parent. Then, exit the stage with your parent and sit in the designated area in the audience. If your parent isn't here," Pedro avoided Regis' eyes, "someone from the staff will stand in for them. Shinwoo, you're up first."

"And now from the cast of the Snow White play," Frankenstein called from the podium, "Prince Charming."

"That's me!" Shinwoo strode out with his arms raised triumphantly. His father playfully tousled his hair and held the award above his head. Shinwoo easily leapt into the air and snatched it from his hand.

Regis nervously crept forward as the next characters were called. Suyi, as popular as ever, received a standing ovation from the audience. Yuna meekly hugged her mom and walked back to their seats, arm in arm.

"Regis, you're next."

"Yes, thank you." Regis stepped out onto the stage, keeping his eyes on the podium as Frankenstein announced his role, and tried not to think about how he was the only student without a parent to meet him. What teacher would be assigned the task? Pedro had remained in the hallway with the rest of the cast.

"Hey, brat." M-21 grinned, waving a rolled paper that was tied with a ribbon. "Aren't you even going to look at me?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm playing your father tonight." M-21 held out the award. "And as such, I would be honored to present you with this certificate. Congratulations."

Regis grasped his fingers around it and looked up at his comrade. "Thank you for standing in."

"Don't worry about it."


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Rain**

"I am so bored!" I shout loud enough to be overheard. Any moment, Takeo will appear in the doorway, half drenched from the summer rain, to answer my call. If he doesn't come, he knows that I will find him, and whatever scheme I come up with during the search will be a thousand times worse than the scheme I have now.

I prop my laptop up on my knees and sink lower into the couch to hide from the sound of raindrops striking the windowpane. I have always hated the rain. Ever since the moment that a surprise rain shower had trapped me under a canopy in the middle of no where during the early stages of my DA-5 days.

Takeo was out. Even from the beginning, he would secretly mix with the locals, and we all knew it. Like him, I had believed that Krantz had overlooked his behavior. I had also mistaken his silence for approval, and I had been jealous in a way. As a sniper, Takeo had much more freedom than I did. I was tied down to the base where I tended to my computers, and they became my companions much more than any of my teammates. Looking back now, I can see that this saved me from all of the things that Takeo suffered. Without this, I would have been the same as him.

We weren't friends then, Takeo and I, but I liked him better than the others. I knew his tendencies, and I kept quiet whenever he did something questionable. I wanted him to go out, to make friends that I was not able to have. I even covered for him once or twice, but these instances were rare. Takeo never asked anything of me. He didn't trust me any more than he trusted the others and lying to Krantz was dangerous.

I know that far better than anyone else. Krantz caught me once. I don't even remember what I had lied about, but when he found out, he made an example of me. I don't know how many hours his fists beat into my flesh, but no one dared to disobey Krantz after that. We never said it aloud, but we all realized that even the four of us working together were no match for him. That is how quickly he took down my feeble defense.

It was Takeo that had finally stopped him. He walked in after one of his disappearances and simply asked who would man my station. Even Krantz had to admit that he needed my skills. At once, he commanded me to stand up and get back to work.

It was in this state that I watched the rain fall from underneath that canopy. It was heavy and pounding. I had already spent the last half hour elevating the computer cords from the canopy to the generator in order to prevent their exposure to the water. The other team members were busy setting up their equipment for the upcoming raid. I was different. I had to set up first and map out the surrounding area before they could do their parts. I was always alone during this time. I should have been alone, but on that day, Shark ducked into my shelter, dripping with both blood and water. He was also different. He was the only one with nothing to set up.

He sat down on the tabletop next to me and swirled his knife around his finger, occasionally catching it only to spin it in the other direction. It was the rain that drove him to me. He always disappeared during these times, and I never bothered to check on what he did. He wasn't like Takeo. With him, I didn't want to know. Maybe if I had, I could have spared Takeo so much of the guilt that he still feels now. If only I had understood what the blood on Shark's clothing had actually meant, I could have done something, but I chose to be ignorant of this. I wish I still was.

Shark said nothing at first. I tried my best to ignore him, but then the whiz of his knife snapping against the palm of his hand ceased. "Do you want to come with me next time?"

I'm immediately on edge, and I know what he means. Whatever he had done to soak so much blood into his clothing, he wanted me to join. I shake my head, forcing myself to show no reaction. I already know that I have to watch my words around him. "I'd rather stay here."

"Should have asked Hammer." He jumped from the table and walked out into the storm. "I hate this rain."

That is the one thing Shark and I have in common.

Takeo walks in, drenched from the summer rain just as I had expected. He finds me balled up on the couch, my laptop no longer on my knees, and I can see the understanding in his eyes. He is not like me. He loves the rain. In his eyes, it washes everything clean. In mine, nothing is clean. I can only see the blood and water dripping from Shark's clothes and my one chance to spare Takeo a little of the pain that Shark has caused him.

I have no right to rely on him the way I do. I know Takeo has suffered much more than I have. He's my best friend. I should be comforting him, not depending on him like this, but while he has managed to heal, I never have. I want to apologize, but I know he doesn't blame me.

Takeo picks up my laptop from where it had fallen and sets on the coffee table. "Wanna play a game?"

I nod, knowing exactly which one he will choose. He settles down onto the floor and opens the application to a military combat game that we both hate. It is the only game that he can beat me at. Takeo selects a character that is a sniper like him, and for a little while, I forget about the rain.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**A/N: **This story was written for the song "Paper Bag" by Anna Nalick. I'll up the story to T since I quoted a line from the song that has a cuss word.

**He Was Near**

His voice floated through the air so soft and beautiful like a sunset breaking through the clouds. Her eyes drifted closed as she listened to the sound. The scent of his cologne permeated the atmosphere, and she lingered, allowing it to cling to her clothing and her hair so that hours later she would still smell like him. She drew in a breath and held it before his presence made her breathless. He was near.

Pressure sank through the fabric of her jacket as his hand touched her shoulder. He was strong yet hesitant, and the weight felt tender. Her skin shivered beneath the layers, and she bit her lower lip until the taste of blood seeped into her mouth.

"Yuna?" His eyes held the darkness of a storm as he spoke her name, and they searched her with depths of concern. "Are you okay?"

She managed a nod.

"Are you sure?" His hand slipped away. "You're trembling."

"I had a difficult morning." The words spilled out as other students swerved around them. Their whispers were loud enough to be heard, and her cheeks burned as she realized he would hear them, too. She wanted nothing more than to fade into the shadows, but he was near. Nothing could tear her from this place. "But it's better now."

His eyes narrowed, darting from student to student. "Yuna-"

"I know what they say." Her fingers curled into fists so tightly that her nails left indentions in her palms. "I'm not as smart or talented or pretty as my friends. I can't compete with them. I don't belong. I've heard it all before. But it's okay now."

His hand stretched out toward her. "Yuna, you don't have-"

"Don't, Ajussi!" She flinched away from him. "I don't need your sympathy, and I don't care if they laugh because someday I'll be so damn beautiful!"

And she ran because he was near, and nothing could hold her to that place.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Sketch of Summer  
><strong>

"What are you doing?" Yuna tucked the edges of her skirt under her legs as she kneeled beside him. He didn't answer at first, but he didn't need to. She could see the answer clearly enough without being told. Instead, she watched his hand glide across the paper in arc after graceful arc as the scene began to form in his sketchbook. She leaned in closer, memorized by the drawing. "It's... You've captured it so well."

At this, he looked over at her and and slid his pencil behind his ear. "You like it?"

"It's amazing." She reached for his sketchbook, and just as her fingers touched the paper, she glanced at him for permission. He nodded once, causing his hair to shift over the pencil so that only the ends were visible. She slowly flipped through the pages. Each sketch was different, but they all had the same theme. "You draw so well, Ajussi. Everyone's expression is so happy. I can't help but smile when I look at it."

He leaned back against the tree as he waited for her to finish. "I'm glad you like it. I've never drawn anything before. The boss thought I should learn a new skill over summer break. I chose art."

"You're really good." She handed the sketchbook back to him.

"Here, I'll draw something for you." He snatched the pencil from his ear and quickly slid it over the paper.

Minutes passed as she waited. Every once in awhile, his eyes would glance up at her then back down to the page as the hint of a smile touched his lips. Finally, he set the pencil in the grass beside him and tore the page from the book. Yuna took it from him and hesitated a moment before flipping it over to see the picture. Her own face looked back up at her as leaves hung frozen in the air around her as if forever drifting toward the ground. "This is... wrong."

"You don't like it?" His eyes scanned the page and ventured back up to her. "I'm sorry. I should have asked before I drew you."

"That's not what I meant." She handed the picture back to him. "This is incomplete. You didn't draw yourself beside me."

He lifted the pencil from the ground and pinched it between his fingertips. "I can fix that."


	16. Chapter 16

****Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

A/N: This is a rather rushed "Welcome back!" story for a friend.

**The First Lesson:**

"What ya got there?" Tao swooped in beside Rai and watched him elegantly poke at a few buttons on the keyboard. "Is that Frankenstein's laptop?"

Rai nodded as he pressed one button at a time.

At this rate, Rai might be able to type three words a minute, but Frankenstein would be overjoyed at that little amount of progress. If the man had created a computer room just because his master played games with the children, imagine what he would buy if he thought Rai was actually interested in computers?

Tao grinned and sank into the seat next to him. "I can show you how to do a few things."

Rai continued to press the keys with disinterest.

"The children can use something called the internet. You could send emails and go to websites and…" This wasn't working. Of course it wouldn't. Rai didn't even know what these things were. Tao sighed, cupping his hand under his jaw. He needed a different approach. "You know, there are a lot of different kinds of ramen that are available online that you can't buy in stores."

Rai glanced over with wide eyes.

That got him. Tao laughed as he quickly explained how to bring up a website and let Rai scroll through ramen packages. After a few lessons like this, Frankenstein would buy a top of the line computer for his master, and once Rai lost interest, that computer would find its way into Tao's collection. "As a reward for your hard work, why don't you pick out a package of ramen? We can order it online, and it'll come in the mail after a few days."

[-] [-] [-]

**The Second Lesson:**

"Mail's here!" Tao dropped the package in front of Rai with excitement. "Let's make it after your second lesson. Is there anything you would like to learn this time? Maybe we should start with a review over what you learned last time. Do you remember how to buy ramen?"

Rai ever so slowly pulled up the website and proceeded to add ramen to the cart.

"Good. Good." Tao nodded proudly, but Rai suddenly shot him an anxious glance. "What is it? Oh, you've switched your screen from landscape to portrait. I can fix that for you."

Rai moved his hand away from the keys.

"Let me know anytime you need help, okay?" Tao adjusted the settings, easily flipping the screen to the correct direction. "If it's about computers, I can fix anything."

[-] [-] [-]

**The Third Lesson:**

"I don't know." Tao slid his fingers through his hair and pulled it away from his face with a loud, exasperated sigh. The eyes of everyone in the room turned toward him as he closed the laptop. "I don't know how to fix this."

"You don't know how to fix a computer?" M-21 snorted, but when his comrade didn't break into a smile, he dropped the snide tone. "What, you're serious?"

"I don't know what he did!"

"Tao," Takeo glanced at Rai, but the man's expression remained blank. Rai didn't mind being blamed for it, but Frankenstein would be upset if he found out.

"I didn't mean that it was your fault just because you were playing with it!" Tao consoled Rai as he stumbled to take back his words and looked to the others for help. "It could have happened to anyone, right?"

"Sure," M-21 smirked, "even to you."

"Yeah, it could have been my fault as much as it could have been yours, right guys?"

"Right." Takeo agreed, following M-21's lead. "It probably was your fault, not his. You were supervising him, after all."

"Yeah, it was my fault!"

"Guess you'll just have to buy Frankenstein a new computer."

"Yeah, I'll- What?!" Tao glared at the other two. "I'm not buying him a new laptop!"

[-] [-] [-]

**The Fourth Lesson:**

"What do you mean my card has been maxed out?" Tao instinctively lowered his voice to match the speaker's hushed tone. "I haven't bought anything with it lately. There should be plenty of credit on it still. More than enough to buy just one laptop."

"I'm sorry, sir. Our records show that your card is full."

"What is in my purchase history?" Tao glanced over at Rai and frowned. "Don't tell me to was a large order from a ramen company?"

"Yes, it was. If you believe this was a fraudulent charge, I could transfer you case to our fraud and claims department."

"That's unnecessary. I remember making the purchase now." Tao hung up the phone and sat across from Rai. "Did you practice ordering ramen off the website while I wasn't around."

Rai nodded proudly.

"I think we're done with these lessons."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

"Frankenstein, can I talk to you?" Regis stood at the threshold to the office and waited for permission to enter.

"Certainly." Frankenstein folded his glasses and set them on his desk. "What is it?"

"I think I'm sick." He slid into the chair in front of the desk.

"Your symptoms?"

"I…" A blush swept across his cheeks, burning his skin. "I think I'm hallucinating."

"Hallucinations?" Frankenstein rummaged through his desk for a pinpoint flashlight and quickly checked the dilation of Regis' eyes. Normal. "What are you seeing?"

"It's not seeing exactly. I keep sensing someone's presence."

"Well, that's a different matter." Frankenstein tucked the flashlight into his pocket. "Perhaps your powers have increased. Do you know who you are sensing?"

"It's… my father." Regis stared at his hands, too embarrassed to make eye contact. "But that's impossible. He died at the Union's hands years ago."

"Frankenstein!" M-21 crashed through the door, breathless and excited. "I saw him! I saw M-24! He's alive!"

Frankenstein frowned. "I think it's time we had a talk."


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Like Brothers**

"What are you doing here?" Regis narrowed his eyes to keep his face from lighting up with delight.

Karias shrugged with his hands stuffed comfortably in his pockets. "I was careful. No one saw me."

"No one saw you enter. How do you expect to get out?"

"I copied the current fashion just in case." Karias proudly slid the silver pendant along the chain of his necklace and dropped it against hem of his green shirt. "I will simply blend in with the students here."

"There's a dress code here. You're not even in the uniform!" Regis shut his mouth. The shout would have drawn the attention of the remaining students, and just as he had expected, Shinwoo stuck his snoopy red head through the doorway.

"Regis, who are you talking to?" Shinwoo scooted out of the classroom with a chalkboard eraser in each hand, happy to have an excuse to avoid his after school duties.

"This is…"

"I'm his unbelievably hot older brother!" Karias flopped one arm over Regis' shoulders and felt him immediately cringe. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you talking like that?" Regis whispered under his breath as Shinwoo darted back into the classroom, doubled over in a fit of laughter.

"That's how you are supposed to speak. Didn't you know? Since you went to a school, I did some research on humans." Karias pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket and unfolded it to reveal a man in a bright green t-shirt and ripped jeans ruggedly standing next to a wall with a sultry gaze. He tapped his finger against the bottom of the page. "See? It says, 'Ten things to look for in the perfect man.' Obviously, this is the standard for human men to follow."

"Did you rip this out of a magazine?" Regis flipped the paper over. "You took the quiz on the back?"

"Yes, my score was 'Stud Muffin.' What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but humans don't act like that. Just behave naturally. Can you do that?"

"Ah, yep."

"He's out here!" Shinwoo dragged the other students out of the classroom. "No way he's Regis' brother. They're nothing alike!"

"Karias-nim?" Seira said without a look of surprise.

"Miss Seira!" He jumped forward to greet her. "It has been a long time! I hope you have been well without the presence of my burning heart to encourage you!"

"Not that naturally!" Regis choked, but Shinwoo grabbed his shoulder, swinging him around.

"What's up with your brother?!"

"He's not my brother." Regis frowned as Karia leapt into another over emotional spiel. "We're just _like_ brothers. That's all!"

* * *

><p>Written in response to this fanart by SweetsVLD. (<strong>DOT<strong> = .)

sweetsvld**DOT**deviantart**DOT**com/gallery/#/d5b0y7e


	19. Chapter 19

****Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Ah, a Refreshing, Exceedingly Long Afternoon Tea.**

The first six hours he cherished. It was quiet and peaceful and felt like the days of the past when they shared eternities together. He poured tea and prated endlessly as his master listened. Time drifted by in sweet waves and then the first wisps of monotony crept in. It was subtle at first. The realization that shadows had shifted from morning to afternoon. The awareness that time had passed. The next four hours drifted by much more slowly like sand falling from an hourglass, and the last three had become unbearably long.

"I wish the kids were here." Frankenstein sighed as he flung his head back against the couch. He was slouching with his feet on the coffee table, but four hours ago he found that he didn't care. After the first five hours, he had run out of things to say. After the next four, he stopped trying to hold a one-sided conversation. The silence remained for another four hours until thirty seconds ago, and now that he had broken it, it threatened to settle in again.

This wasn't like the past. This wasn't what he had hoped for. This was dull and unending. When had he changed? When had he become so dependant on human devices that he was this uncomfortable without them? For the last eight hundred twenty years, he had busied himself looking for Master, and now that he had found him, he should be elated. But the pace of his previous life and the pace of his current life contradicted so severely. Of course there would be discrepancies.

Rai quietly drank his tea. "If you wish to do something else, you may."

Had Master noticed his boredom? Frankenstein quickly straightened into a respectable position. "Oh, no, Master. I wouldn't dream of it. We never are able to spend time alone like this."

Silence again. A nice, quiet, unending day alone with Master. He shouldn't be this bored. Frankenstein picked up the remote and clicked on the TV. He glanced at Master. He didn't seem to mind. Something calm would be best. Frankenstein flipped through the channels and stopped on a commercial for ramen.

Rai looked over.

"Allow me to prepare dinner!" Frankenstein leapt from the couch. He should have thought of this before.

The commercial ended, dissolving into an action film. Masked men rushed into a back with weapons drawn.

"_Everybody on the floor! Put the money in the bag!"_

Rai sipped his tea.

"_Hurry up or we'll shoot the hostages!"_

Rai looked up as shots fired into the air.

"_Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"_

His eyes burned red as his powers began to swirl around him.

"Master?" Frankenstein darted into the room.

"Blood Field."

"Master!" He dove for the remote and switched off the TV before any damage could be done. "Maybe we could have just a nice, quiet evening after all?"

* * *

><p>AN: This is really old. I've been going through my unfinished stories and found it.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

Written for a friend's birthday.

* * *

><p><strong>Unexpected<strong>

He hadn't expected anything.

No one knew. They couldn't have known. He had never asked. He had never hinted. He had never even mentioned it. They shouldn't have known. How did they find out?

His eyes scanned the students as he circled around the heap that used to be his desk. "Which one of you did this?"

The children awkwardly avoided his eyes. All of them. Only Seira and Regis stared foreword, and it couldn't have been either of them. The boy was too uppity, and the girl was too disinterested. It wasn't Rai, either. He didn't even seem to notice the four inches of plastic wrap covering the desk. Suyi discreetly took a picture of it with her phone and grinned at Yuna. It wasn't those girls, either. They would enjoy it, but those two wouldn't come up with a prank this elaborate. Ikhan would able to get the information, but he wasn't the type to get his hands dirty. That left Shinwoo. It had to have been him. It was always him.

Pedro locked gaze with the kid and narrowed his eyes. "How did you find out?"

Shinwoo cracked a smile. "Find out what?"

"You know what I'm talking about." He tapped the desk, leaving indentions in the plastic. "Come clean this up."

The smirk faded. "But it wasn't me this time!"

"Then who was it?"

"Principal Lee."

"It was _not _Principal Lee." Pedro grabbed a pair of scissors from the cabinet and carefully cut away the layers of plastic wrap. "There's wrapping paper under this?"

"Keep going!" Shinwoo hollered from the back of the room.

Pedro ripped the paper way. "This isn't my desk." He glanced back at his class. Wrapping his desk in plastic wrap was one thing, but replacing his desk altogether? That was too much for the kids.

"Ah, I see you found your desk." Frankenstein folded his arms and looked the structure over from the doorway. "I warned them not to scratch it during delivery, but this a little much. They should have at least cleaned up after themselves."

"Deliver it?"

"Yes, I ordered a new desk for you. I'm sure I mentioned it." Frankenstein walked into the room and handed him an envelope. "I just came to deliver the card."

"I really didn't expect anything." Pedro slid the card from the envelope. Everyone signed it. Even Rai. "I never even mentioned it."

"Happy birthday, Mr. Park."


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

I took liberties with this one. It's... yeah. M-21 getting his driver's license. It's kind of a joke.

* * *

><p><strong>License<strong>

"I'm not doing it." M-21 glared. Tried to glare. His opponent was Frankenstein, and there was no out glaring him. That man could stop you dead with one look, and M-21 knew his resistance wouldn't last long. He would have to make his argument hard and fast before Frankenstein had the chance to twist his glare into a smile. Once he smiled, it was all over. He knew that he had won. "I'm not ready. I haven't practiced enough. I never even agreed to this in the first place."

Frankenstein narrowed his eyes into slits. His voice thinned as his patience with this argument began to fade. Soon a threatening aura would dispel into the air. Well, it would if there hadn't been an audience. Instead, he kept his threats much more discreet. Just a glare, but a glare was more than enough. "Get in the car."

"I don't want to." It was a final complaint. He was about to lose. No one ever beat Frankenstein except for his master. M-21 glanced at Rai. It was a cheap shot, he knew, but it was his only chance. "Didn't you want us to live our lives by freely making our own choices? I don't want to do this."

Rai looked away. He always picked the worst times to do that.

Frankenstein smiled. "Get in the car."

M-21 obediently opened the door to the driver's side and slid into the seat. The stranger next to him already looked exasperated. She tapped her pen against her clipboard and began to read off a checklist of instructions. The Dragon Lady. That's what the kids had called her. He had heard their whispers while taking the written portion of the test. She never passed anyone.

He snapped on his seatbelt and looked out the window at Frankenstein. There would be no pleading with him now. When that man set his mind to something, he would not stop until he did it, and right now, he wanted M-21 to drive. He would take failure personally. Frankenstein gave him a reassuring nod. M-21 didn't feel reassured.

"I said to start the car." There was no hiding the annoyance in her voice. She glared at him impatiently from the passenger seat. She could glare almost as well as Frankenstein. If ever there was a female version of Frankenstein, she would be it, and she did not look pleased.

"Sorry." M-21 turned the key. Frankenstein's fancy, little sport car roared to life.

"Don't talk to the instructor."

"Ah, right."

She gave him a look and checked off something on her clipboard. He hadn't even put the car into gear, and he was failing already.

[-] [-] [-]

"Well, how did you do?" Frankenstein looked like an anxious father greeting his child after the first day of kindergarten. Really? After being so pushy about it, he's concerned now?

"I took her hill jumping." M-21 smirked. He had been saving that line just to see the look on Frankenstein's face. It did not disappoint. "I was going to fail anyway. I told you that I'm not ready."

Frankenstein shook his head in clear disapproval. "You weren't ready after all. With a car that low to the ground, you should have maximized it's ability for high speeds and easy handling. You can really stick the sharp corners in it. Hill jumping requires a vehicle with a better suspension. The shocks simply won't hold up that well."

That was not the reaction that he had been expecting. M-21 glanced back at the car. The Dragon Lady was still prying herself from the seat. It might take awhile for her to calm down. But that wasn't important right now. His eyes shot back to Frankenstein. The man was grinning. That's worse than a glare. "You have your driver's license. Why don't you driver your master around?"

Rai looked away. He always picked the best times to do that.

"He won't let you?" M-21 held his gaze. He actually had a chance at besting Frankenstein this time. "How recklessly do you drive?"

"I have never gotten a ticket."

"Yeah, how many times have you been pulled over?"

Frankenstein didn't answer right away. He actually seemed to be thinking about it. _ Calculating_. "Do you mean how many times an officer has tried to pull me over or how many times I have actually complied?"

_"What?" _ That brilliant word was all M-21 could choke out.

Frankenstein seemed proud of himself. "I drive like the devil."

Suiting choice of words. The Dragon Lady finally forced herself onto solid ground. She looked as though she may kiss it. Instead, she ripped the paper from her clipboard and shoved it into Frankenstein's hands. "He passes. Just never bring any of your other children here again." With that, she fled.

"Other children? You didn't…"

Frankenstein was too busy reading over the paper. "She gave you a perfect score."

"I didn't think I scared her that much." M-21 reluctantly eased into the driver's seat, but Frankenstein shook his head. "What is it?"

"I'll drive." And he smiled.

Rai looked away. He always picked the worst times to do that.

Great. Just great.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

A/N: This is from Takeo's point of view. It's a gift for someone that read all of my stories in a very short period of time. The prompt is something reflective about Takeo. I consider this a companion story to Tao's "Rain" one shot.

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Tao Sometimes<strong>

I hate Tao sometimes.

The cold seeps though the folds of my coat where the buttons loosely hold the fabric together, and I wish that I had worn something with a zipper instead. I'm freezing, but it's too soon to go back to the house. After the scene we just caused, I should be grateful that I had grabbed a coat at all.

There are gloves in the pockets. I slip them over my hands and blow into them until the numbness leaves my fingers. My joints feel stiff, and they already ache. I wrap the scarf around my neck until the layers lap over my mouth and nose. The fabric catches the moisture on my breath, making it feels sticky against my skin. I pull my hair out from under the scarf and let it fall limply down my back.

I'm walking away from the house. I'm not sure where I'm going. The park, maybe? Yeah, the park. That should be empty this time of night. I really don't want to be around anyone right now. I don't even want to look back at the house just incase someone is watching. The idea that he may be there, waiting for me to glance back, bothers me more than the cold. I just want to be alone for once. Somewhere he isn't.

The snow on the sidewalk reaches above my ankles. It tumbles into my shoes and melts until my socks are as wet as the hems of my jeans. I hate really hate winter, and I hate Tao all the more. It's his fault that I'm out here. It's cold, and I'm miserable. And the worst part of all of this? I'm wearing Tao's coat.

He put his coat on my hanger. I was too angry to notice. He's so careless sometimes. He's always doing something like that. I think it's on purpose sometimes, but I can't be sure.

I shove a heap of snow off the park bench and collapse into the seat. There's no one around just as I had wanted, but the snow muffles all sound. The silence feels lonely. I can feel the slats of the bench through my clothing, and I pull the sleeves of the coat further down my arms. Tao's smaller than me. The cuffs don't even reach my wrists. I rip off the coat and throw it on the ground. I'd rather be cold than deal with this.

There's a tangle where the coat collar had rubbed against the strands of my hair. I take off the gloves and begin to work it out with my fingers. This is how it had started, Tao messing with my hair. It had been innocent at first. Tao had yanked the end of my ponytail during breakfast this morning. I had laughed about it. I always do. It's easier to laugh than to get mad at him. But it didn't stop there. He escalated though out the day until he stood with a pair of scissors and a lock of my hair in his hands. I couldn't say anything at first. It wasn't even that he had cut my hair. I couldn't believe that he had forgotten our agreement.

It had happened years ago. The DA-5 had first formed, and none of us really knew each other. We didn't see each other as comrades, much less as friends, but it was before we had learned to treat each other as enemies. Tao had made an off hand comment about my hair getting long. It had only grown down to my shoulders back then. I glared back at him and told him that I'd cut it after he got rid of that stupid bowl cut.

That bowl cut. Ah, I wish I could laugh about it now, but I still can't think about it without wincing. The bowl cut was the standard hairstyle given by a lazy researcher. He had only just recently been released from an experiment. I knew what it meant. He knew what it meant, and I still took a jab at it.

Tao had only smirked over his computer monitors. "Deal."

He took it so lightheartedly, but I could never be sure. Did he really not mind, or was he afraid to show his true emotions? It bothers me in a way. I hate to think that he is constantly reminded of what he has been through because of me. I wish I could free him of this, but if he won't change his hairstyle, then I won't cut mine. If he suffers because of it, so will I. It's our agreement, our deal, but that had happened years ago. And we had never mentioned it again.

Snow drops from the sky in sloppy, wet globs. They're invisible until they hit the glow of the streetlights. I can hear snow crunching behind me, but I don't look to see who it is. I don't need to. I already know.

Tao dumps my coat over my head and flops into the seat beside me. He's shivering, and I feel guilty about throwing his coat on the ground. He doesn't look at me as I pull my coat over my shoulders. I snatch his from the snow and shake it off until it's nearly clean.

We're both still too angry to speak. He's angry at himself, and my resolve is melting. I try to think of something to say, but nothing comes to mind. He's always the one that smoothes over these things, and that's when I see the corners of his lips turn up.

Tao's looking right at me. The snow is landing in his hair and blending into the white stripe. Whatever it is, he's serious. "Get a haircut. You look like a girl."

And that's what I hate the most about him. How he can make me forgive him in a second. I shove him hard, but he knows I'm not mad. We won't be able to laugh about this, but we both need to hang onto our scars. And so I say the line he's waiting to hear. "As soon as you get rid of that mushroom on your head."


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

This is from Yuriy's point of view based off of chapter 253. It's a little dark, I guess, so I'll up the rating to T.

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><p><strong>Yuriy: A "Love" Story<strong>

Her eyes burned like fire with a glare that was so calm and hateful that he wished she would turn it against him. The line of her lips was stiff and straight and delightfully impenetrable. It didn't waver although she must have been surprised. After what he had done, she shouldn't have been able to breathe. Any other girl would have fallen to her knees, but her gaze didn't even shift away from the scene. An expression like ice. A woman so unattainable that he had try, and manipulating her would be his masterpiece.

Her two comrades lay on the ground, bound and drugged and drowning in their own blood. They were beyond the point of crying out in pain but before the point of death. It would be difficult for her to save them. He had left them alive but just barely. It was a gift of his skill and suffering. A testament of his tortured affections. He laid them before her just as a cat leaves its prey at its master's feet. She reached down to touch one of them, and with that, she had accepted this offering.

She looked back at him. Her eyes were murderous and scarlet. His lips, so unlike hers, curled in delight. The way she despised him enticed him all the more, but he couldn't let her see him tonight. Shadows swept around him like the darkness of night, and her gaze passed through him toward the door. The boy crashed into the room with all the pain and emotion that she never disclosed, and her eyes softened at the sight of him. His smile faded at the imperfection. She was most beautiful enraged, but that boy drew a look of kindness to her face.

He left the room silently. It was too soon to reveal himself as long as those around her made her weak. One by one, he would take them from her. He would make her eyes burn with fury until he was all she could see. Only then would she belong to him. Love could be so similar to hate.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p><strong>Remembrance of Times Past<strong>

"Frankenstein." Master's eyelids slowly dipped down until his lashes formed a thin veil over his sight. He pensively stared into the depths of his tea with an expression so reserved that it seemed impossible to know what he was thinking.

Impossible, yes, for anyone else but he had been with Master for far too long to not recognize even the most subtle of mannerisms. It would take the man awhile to speak what was on his mind, but eventually the words would come. He only needed to wait for them. Frankenstein stood next to him with a teapot in one hand, but he didn't move to freshen Master's cup. Doing so now would only break he man's concentration.

"I was thinking…" Master curled his fingers around the handle of his teacup and lifted it with his pinky extended. He brought the cup to his lips and gracefully sipped from the brim. "…About the night we first met."

"Yes, Master." Frankenstein set the teapot down on the coffee table and settled into one of the seats. This was one of the few times when Master shared his heart, and he only did this in front of his servant. Now was not the time for words. Anything he could say would only detract from Master's thoughts, and when Master spoke, he couldn't help but listen.

Master's mouth drew back into the slightest of smiles. "You said you were a servant."

Frankenstein nodded, holding back a sigh. If only he had known how ridiculous a claim that had been at the time. How Master had known the truth behind his serpentine lies. If only he had known whose house he had walked into, but if he had known these things, he wouldn't be here now. Everything he had lost was worthless compared to this. "I am glad I did."

Master's cheeks reddened a little, and he drank from his teacup again.

"Allow me." Frankenstein lifted the teapot from the coffee table and poured the contents into Master's cup. The man always shied at any show of affection whether it was from his servant or one of his knights. Master had been alone so long that these things still felt new to him, and Frankenstein had learned to give him a little time to recover before expecting him to continue.

"I found you wandering the house." Master lowered his cup, touching his pinky to the saucer to silence the sound of glass colliding with glass. His expression turned troubled as his eyes shifted under the weight of his thoughts, and he looked up at him so earnestly that Frankenstein held his breath. "Wearing my shirt."

"I-I'm sorry, Master."

"It was my favorite."

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><p>Written in the "Broken Glass" style for bluebird of paradise. Prompt: I'd like a story on Rai and Franky reminiscing about the 1st time they met... u know that night at Lukedonia when some fool entered Rai's mansion to get away from the central forces?<p> 


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>His screams reach me clearly as if no walls separated us. They fill the room like a rushing wind, and there is nothing I can do to block out the sound. M-21's voice dies down, but I can't tell if it is because the experiments have ceased or if he has finally lost consciousness from the pain. Either way, the howling will start again soon. Silence never lasts for long. Crombel can be so cruel.<p>

Tao's muffled sobs drift in from somewhere down the corridor. I can hear them in these brief moments of quiet, but I know that even when the silence lifts, his cries are still there under the sound. Sometimes Tao's screams mix with M-21's screams until the two blend into one voice. It's his way of stopping the noise, and I envy him for this. I wish I could hide the way he does, but I deserve to suffer the fullness of it. Everything that has happened is because of me.

M-21's screams rise again, and it will be hours until they reach their peak. Tao's voice disappears beneath them, and I'm glad that he can only hear the sound. He doesn't understand what it means. He doesn't know the details of every experiment, the reasons behind the screams. He is ignorant of this. I comfort myself with this thought because I understand everything.

Regis is shouting, begging for them to stop. His pleas are filled with tears and go unanswered. I know that he would trade his own life to take M-21's place the way that M-21 had done for him. I feel the worst for Regis. His pain is so similar to my own. We are both so desperate to save another's life that we would destroy ourselves to spare them, but where he would have only given his own life, I was willing to give their lives as well.

I had always thought that if it ever came to this, I would fight to the death. I would protect my master and my children. I would die before I ever let my master experience something so horrible. I never imagined I would betray him with my own hands. Guilt consumes me. I torture myself with blame. Everything they suffer is because of me, and it is the least that I can do to take on as much of the agony as I can withstand. I deserve this, but they are innocent.

My hands are shaking, and the binds cut into my wrists like razorblades. The pain reminds me not to resist. I must stay alive. I must live through this. I am bound to this place by more than these chains. I have forsaken everything for this. For him. If I die, he will be alone.

I look through the window across from me at my master's cell. This is the only way Crombel has found to quiet me-allowing me to see my master. As long as I know he is alive, I will do anything. I know this. Crombel knows this. He humors me as long as it benefits him.

My master doesn't look at me. He refuses to meet my eyes. I know he is aware of what I have done to save his life. What I have sacrificed. He suffers more than I do. He can feel all of our pain as if it was his own, and for once, he is powerless to protect us. I try to think of happier times to ease his mind. I ask him to forgive me, but I can't obey him anymore. I can't let him die.

Crombel enters my master's room, and I'm screaming at the top of my lungs. I call out for Dark Spear, but he don't answer me. He knows that I do not have the power to summon him, and I can feel his ecstasy at my misery. I cannot protect my master just as I couldn't protect him during the battle that brought us here. I risked everything to save his life. I took him to the Union labs. They were closer than the house, and there wasn't time. I would have done anything, and I knew that the others would follow me. I knew that we would lose.

I yell and curse, but nothing changes. Crombel pays no attention to me, and in this state, I am only frightening the others. I can no longer hear Tao and Regis. They are listening to me instead, and even M-21 is quiet. They know that if even I am like this, all hope is lost. They need my strength, but I can't provide them with that small comfort.

Nothing seems real anymore. I don't even know if I am sane, but I grasp to hold onto my mind. I must remain of value. It is my knowledge that keeps us alive. Crombel needs what I know, and as long as my master is in his hands, I will give it freely. How many lives have I sacrificed to save my master? How many has Crombel taken of which I am not aware? I don't even know what has happened to Takeo and Seira. This is only the beginning of my guilt. I know that more lives are to come.

My master cannot look at me because he knows what I have done. All of it was for his sake.

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><p>This is a dark story written for Halloween.<p> 


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p><strong>Halloween<strong>

"So, what are you going to be?" Tao asked playfully with a grin so mischievous that he could have been mistaken for a gremlin, which may have been the point. He held up a green plastic mask with black hair and bolts protruding from the neck. "This suits you."

Frankenstein's glare could have killed him. "That would be Frankenstein's _monster_. If it applied to anyone, it would be you."

Tao quickly shoved it back onto the hook before Frankenstein forced him to wear the mask as retribution. "I think Regis and Seira would make great ghosts. They look just like them. You know, if ghosts were real."

"What makes you think they are not?"

"Wait, they are?"

Frankenstein lowered his voice. A costume shop was not the proper place to reveal this information, but no one else was around to overhear them. "Consider a soul weapon. It is filled with the souls of the previous generations. If such a thing is possible to contain in a weapon, is the idea that a stray soul may roam the earth so farfetched?"

"Ghosts are real?" Tao paled.

Frankenstein only smiled.

"You're joking… right?"

"What are we even doing here?" M-21 searched through a rack of costumes with disinterest and bypassed a selection of pirate garb. "This stuff is for kids."

Everyone fell silent, and they quickly busied themselves with the costumes as Frankenstein glanced worriedly at his master.

Tao grabbed M-21's sleeve and pulled him toward the animal costume section. "Did you have to ask that?"

"What?"

"_Somebody_ has never experienced Halloween. _Somebody_ who loves sweet things. _Somebody_ who would watch everyone else go door to door to get candy because _he_ is already too old to go trick-or-treating unless _somebody else_ who was older went with him so that it wouldn't be so weird." Tao looked over at Rai, but he wasn't listening to their conversation. "Look, even Frankenstein is going along with it."

"Whatever." M-21 gave in a little too easily. "But I'm not dressing up. I can only imagine the horrible group costumes that you could come up with."

"That's not a bad idea."

"You wouldn't…"

"Hey, boss!" Tao cheered as he ran toward the man. "M-21 had an idea that you're going to love!"

[-] [-] [-]

"Trick or treat!" Tao shouted and coughed awkwardly when no one else said it with him.

The woman at the door stared at them for a moment, but then shook her head in amusement. "Aren't you a little old for this?"

"Even adults like candy." Tao offered, heaping a handful of candy from the bowl and into his bag.

"Ah, to be young at heart." She laughed and held out the bowl to the others. "I see we have a beautiful princess and five gallant knights. And look at you, young man! Are you the king?"

"I decline." Rai answered simply as he pinched a single piece of candy between his fingers and set it delicately in the bag.

"Decline?"

"He, uh, he didn't want to be the king?" Tao quickly moved on to the next door before she could question them further.

"Why'd you take so much candy?" Takeo whispered. His own bag only held a few pieces. "Shouldn't you leave it for the kids?"

"Because _he _only took one piece from each house. Do you know how long it's going to take to fill his bag at this rate? After we fill ours, we can put our share in his bag as an excuse."

"The faster we fill his bag, the faster we can go home?" M-21 knocked on the next door, and this time Tao wasn't alone when he shouted, "Trick-or-treat!"

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><p>This is a light story written for Halloween.<p> 


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>How anyone knew about it to begin with, I'll never know. The former lord had declared the area forbidden centuries ago, and the current lord had never lifted that command. Guards still stood at the perimeter, blocking passage, and the mansion could not be seen unless you were well within the grounds. Perhaps this was why it had taken so long for the rumors to reach us. We had done everything we could to hide the secret of his existence after he had disappeared so that when he returned, his existence remained a secret. He never was one to announce his presence, and no one ever thought to check until now.<p>

The mansion looked empty at first sight. It always had, even in the past, that is, until Frankenstein had come along. The man had put his skill and passion into caring for it, and he had transformed it into a haven. The mansion stood out among all of the homes in Lukedonia. Nothing compared to its splendor other than the palace, but I think that if they ever would admit it, they both hated that house. Neither of them ever seemed pleased to be there, but they had always been difficult to read. Raizel-nim was distant and uninterested. Frankenstein was brilliant and arrogant. And even then, I have always wondered if those were their true personalities or just masks to hide behind. What they really thought about the house, I don't know, but when Raizel-nim first woke up, neither of them had been in any hurry to return.

That they would return now after such a long absence was surprising. Millennia have come and gone. The children had grown old quickly, and the enhanced humans had followed soon after. Regis and Seira transformed into adults, and I, myself, am at the end of my life. Even so, those two had remained in the human world throughout the passage of time. I can only wonder why they would return now. There is nothing left here for them any more than there is for me.

Those of us belonging to the older generation have fallen behind. The old ways are being replaced with newer practices, and the world of the Nobles has adjusted to the times. The lord has led us well. It was difficult for her at first. She often sought my advice then, but in the end, she has grown as strong and as astute as her father. She can now make decisions without my help. My role as an adviser is unnecessary although she hasn't relinquished me of the position. She still shows the same sentimentality that has always been her weakness. For her sake, I no longer involve myself in governmental affairs, and with Regis currently acting as clan leader, I have little to do. There is no need for me here, and I chase these rumors just to fill my time.

I hope that the rumors are true. That they are living in the mansion once again. I am surprised by how much I am looking forward to seeing Frankenstein. Maybe I can finally beat him in our banter, or maybe he will just let me win for once. Even with his sarcastic wit, I count him as a friend. So few of us that remember the past are left now, and I could use someone who shares my memories. Seira and Regis try to understand, but I can see that the depth of my nostalgia is lost on them. Only Raizel-nim and Frankenstein have experienced it. No one else is left.

I see Raizel-nim in the window, and I let myself in. He looks older, both in age and in experience, the way that only grief can add years to one's life. He turns as I enter the room, and I know at once that he is alone.

So few Nobles live to see the end of their years, opting instead to enter eternal sleep, but I have chosen to live the entirety of mine. I wish to await my death while watching the world pass me by, and I realize now that Raizel-nim is the same. But humans are different. Though they try to lengthen their years, their lives can only last a fraction of ours. Frankenstein's was longer than most, but he had eventually succumb to his humanity as well.

I don't say anything. Raizel-nim can sense the remorse within my heart without being told, and I can guess the pain that must weigh upon his. We are both unneeded in this generation. We are both left behind. So few of us remember the days of old, and I would rather live in the past than admit the brokenness of my dreams. Instead, I keep alive these memories as a testament to our lives. The young generation does not understand, and I have always feared that when I die, these memories will end with me.

But Raizel-nim is here now. He will not forget our lives under the former lord. How we have lived once. How Frankenstein had changed everything. I can die in peace knowing that he will keep these memories for me. For his sake, I envy humanity for the brevity of their lives. I know what it means for him to be alone.

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><p>AN: I'm sure you noticed that this is from Gejutel's point of view.


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>Each step pounded against the floor as he approached, thundering with power and irritation, and Frankenstein made no secret of his displeasure to be there. Gejutel stood to the right, rather uncomfortably shifting his weight from one foot to the other although his countenance remained stone faced. For whatever purpose the lord had summoned him here, that man knew, and if it was anything like their previous encounter in Lukedonia, he also knew the answer to her question. He merely didn't bother to inform the lord, forcing her instead to make irrational decisions based on misconceptions, and the idea that this was simply a way to train her aggravated him all the more.<p>

"I salute the lord." Frankenstein pushed the indignant tone from his voice, but his glare never left Gejutel. It wasn't until the lord spoke that he even turned to look at her.

She sat on the edge of her throne with her elbows resting on the arms, and she looked down at him with an expression of curiosity that he had often seen on the face of her father. On the princess, however, such an expression was a rarity. Her eyelids dropped down until they nearly closed, but Gejutel shook his head, either chiding or reassuring her on some point. She immediately glanced back up at Frankenstein as if forcing herself to make eye contact. "Do you know the reason you have been summoned?"

Frankenstein clenched his teeth, holding back the words he would have spoken to her father had that man asked such a stupid question. Instead, he spoke smoothly in a tone that Gejutel would understand to be sarcastic, but the lord would believe to be sincere. "I am not. The summons did not supply an explanation as you are well aware."

Gejutel narrowed his eyes with disapproval but said nothing. Pointing out the hidden disrespect would only cause trouble, and he had his own motives for this meeting. Instructing the lord without her knowledge was no easy task, and he must make use of every situation that revealed itself.

If that was the case, perhaps he could teach Gejutel a lesson of his own. The man would not dare to allow him to be summoned after this. Frankenstein smiled, causing Gejutel to frown, and he turned back to the throne. "I can only assume that after such a long absence before our previous encounter, you did not want to allow any time to pass before seeing me again. It is understandable. You have grown into a fine young lady, lord, and with your father's overbearing nature regarding men finally lifted, it would be only natural that you would seek me out now. I must say, I am flattered."

"Frankenstein." Gejutel warned under his breath.

"Don't be so obstinate, Gejutel. The times have changed. It is no longer considered outlandish for a woman to approach a man."

"You know that's not what I meant."

"How should I know such a thing, and what is it to you if the lord has taken an interest in me?" Frankenstein grinned lethally, but this charade was lasting too long. The lord should have had an outburst by now, but she had remained strangely quiet.

Her fingertips touched her lips, hiding the faintest hints of a smile, and her eyes danced mischievously as she lowered her hand. "I can see now why my father always called you a peacock."

Frankenstein couldn't look away although the trace of a smile had long since vanished. Had she inherited more of her father's sense of humor than she let on, or had his banter been closer to the truth than he had realized? Gejutel stood to the right, rather uncomfortably shifting his weight from one foot to the other. For whatever purpose the lord had summoned him here, that man knew, and like their previous encounter in Lukedonia, he refused to the answer to her question.

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><p>This is for someone's birthday. Her favorite characters are Franky and the lord.<p> 


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>The prompt was a story about Seira and Regis' fathers, and I used chapter 259 as the base.<p>

I just used their last names. Loyard=Seira's father. Landegre=Regis' father.

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><p>"Loyard," Landegre whispered as he stretched out his hand to touch the other man. The distance was short, a mere arm's length away, but his whole body trembled from the struggle. He collapsed again, neither reaching his destination nor returning to his previous position. Both were more than he could accomplish in this state. "Are you still alive?"<p>

"Barely." The words sounded like air, and he didn't try to move. "I can't breathe."

"I was just thinking about the children."

"Seira." Loyard's eyes cracked open slightly although the blood and sweat that dripped from his skin caused them to sting, and he looked over at his comrade. "I left her in the rose garden. She always waits for me there…. S-She'll be waiting…"

"My father will go to her. He will tell her what happened to us."

"That-that worries me." Loyard choked on a soft laugh. "Your clan is s-so forthright… pigheaded. Y-your clan leader will ju-just bluntly tell her that we died."

"Not even that. He will tell her that she now leads your clan without an explanation."

"I-I hope he-he says we s-saved the humans." His eyes closed again, too weak to even maintain that much effort. "I… want her t-to have… s-something t-to be proud of… I…want…"

"Loyard?" He extended his fingertips until they brushed against the fabric of the man's sleeve. "Are you…"

"I-I'm still alive." Loyard managed a smile, but it quickly transformed into a grimace as a cough ravaged his body until he tasted blood. "I-I think I p-p-punctured a lung."

"You don't have to talk. Save your strength."

"N-no… w-we're dead any… anyway." His chest tightened as he gasped. "I-I know your… your clan leader w-will look after S-Seira… S-she won't be a-alone… but Regis… y-your clan's s-so… hardheaded… he'll be o-overlooked."

"You choose now to insult me and then you worry about my son?"

"S-Seira w-will… she'll w-watch o-over-over him." Loyard painstakingly rolled onto his side, spitting blood onto the ground, and clasped his hand around Landegre's wrist. "L-let's g-give them s-some…something t-to be proud of. I-I want them t-to know we… we did every-everything w-we could."

"I think I might be able to move now." Landegre forced himself to his knees, quavering as his strength gave out, but too determined to collapse again. Blue power flickered from his fingertips like a dying flame.

"Y-you're clan's s-so ob-obsti-stinate." Loyard grabbed Landegre's shoulder to study himself, nearly pulling them both to the ground, and he lifted his hand to match Landegre's shot. "I-I'm re-ready."

"Let's not keep our opponent waiting."

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><p>AN: Since we haven't seen either of these two, I guessed that Landegre would be like Regis and Gejutel, but I think that Loyard would be more like a mixture between Seira and Shinwoo. (Shinwoo when he's being sweet or protective-not when he's being funny.) I don't really have a reason other than that's the type of guy the Seira seems to take to, and I'm curious as to what these two are truly like.


	30. Chapter 30

Disclaimer: Noblesse Isn't Mine.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Tis the Season<strong>

"It's cold." Tao blew into his hands and rubbed his gloves together, but the simple gesture did nothing to alleviate the numbness in his fingers. He looked back at his companion, but the man seemed perfectly content despite the weather. "How can you not be cold? You want a hat or anything?"

Rai inspected the window display with curiosity, but didn't move to enter the store.

"Let's take a look." Tao dashed through the door and fumbled through the merchandise. "I've always liked the hats with animal ears. This one's a kitty. How cute is that? Maybe I'll get it for Takeo."

Rai glanced at the hat that Tao was holding up, and his eyes filled with wonder.

Tao instantly frowned. Frankenstein would kill him if he brought his master home dressed like that. He quickly grabbed the most expensive set and shoved it in front of Rai. "Maybe something a little more fancy?"

Ignoring it, Rai picked up a kitty hat and studied the ears.

"What about this one?" Tao offered him another option. "It's stylish."

"This is interesting."

"You really like it that much?" Tao frowned and gave in with a sigh. "Fine, we'll get it, but you have to hide it from Frankenstein." He quickly paid and carried their supplies back to the line on the sidewalk. "Warmth secured! M-21 not back yet?"

"He said he had to buy cherries before the stores closed." The wind cut through his coat, and Takeo wrapped his arms around his stomach to stop himself from shivering. "Did you bring anything for me?"

"I grabbed a couple hats and gloves. Ah! I forgot to get myself a scarf!"

"Here." Takeo unwrapped his scarf from around his neck. "Use mine. I'll just let my hair down. The hat won't fit over my ponytail anyway."

"How are you holding up, Regis?" Tao smashed a hat on his head and intentionally mussed his hair. "Excited to camp out in line all night?"

"I don't see why we can't just come when the store opens."

"How can you say that? We're not even the first in line!"

"He's right." Takeo pulled out his hair band and ran his fingers through his hair. "Frankenstein's impossible to buy for as it is. He already has everything. Could you imagine finally finding something for him, and it's sold out? I'd rather spend the night in line than deal with that."

"So," Tao smiled as Rai tugged the kitty hat over his hair, "What are you getting Frankenstein for Christmas?"

"He asks for the same thing every year." Rai tapped the kitty ears with gloved fingers and slowly lowered his hand. "He makes such a fuss over what he gives me."

"Well, maybe you could give him something special this year, but like Takeo said, he already has everything. And it's not like he made a list. The only thing I can think of that he would actually want is something that makes you happy. The way he dotes on you-"

"You're back!" Regis jumped out of line to meet M-21 on the sidewalk. "Do you need help with anything?"

"Take the lids off of these cups." M-21 handed him a tray of drinks and grabbed a jar or maraschino cherries from his grocery bag. "It'd be better made on the stovetop, but I'll just improvise a little."

"What are you doing?" Regis peeled the last lid from the cups.

"You guys wanted something warm, right?" He poured the juice into the hot chocolate, dumping a couple cherries into the bottom, and stirred it with a candy cane. He dropped that into the liquid as well and filled the top with whipped cream. "Here, try this."

"Don't burn your tongue." Tao smirked and took a cup for Takeo and Rai. "What do you think Seira and Frankenstein are doing right now?"

"Probably having dinner." M-21 snapped the lid back into place. "Anyone tell them that we were leaving?"

"…I'll call."

[-] [-] [-]

Frankenstein lovingly set the turkey on the table with a gleam in his eyes. It looked as flawless as a magazine. The aroma whiffed through the air, adding the perfect touch to his Thanksgiving dinner, and he waited with a smile for the scent to draw the household to the kitchen one by one.

…and waited…

…and waited…

…and where were they?

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><p>AN: A little bit of holiday fluff. There may or may not be additional parts added later.


	31. Chapter 31

**Tis the Season (Part 2)**

"Shinwoo, you're morbid." Ikhan glanced up at the windows, but they were all still dark. No one had waken up yet, and if they played this right, no one would.

"I'm not morbid." Shinwoo smirked as he dumped a bottle of food dye into the water gun. It dispersed into the liquid inside, turning it a deathly red. "We all live in apartments. We had to do this here."

"You're going to get caught." Yuna giggled, clamping her gloved hand over her mouth and enjoying this far more than she was willing to admit. "What's next?"

"Check the bag." Shinwoo motioned to the ground next to her.

She dropped to her knees, regretting it instantly as the snow touched bare skin. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Shinwoo, you didn't!" Ikhan laughed and instantly looked to the windows again. Still no lights. "I'm doing this part." He tiptoed across the yard to the snowman and pulled the sticks from its torso.

"Let me help." Yuna joined him and pulled the material over the snowman. She shoved the sticks back through the sleeves and into the body.

"Here's the knife." Shinwoo propped it against the snowman's arm and stepped back. "Get the guns."

Ikhan ran back to the supplies to retrieve a gun for each of them. "Ready."

"Alright!" Shinwoo aimed at the snowman and opened fire.

"I have an idea." Yuna unscrewed the lid to her water gun and poured a trail across the street.

"Yuna, I can't believe you're doing that!"

"Lights!" Ikhan shouted as Rai stepped out on the balcony, and all three of them ran for it.

[-] [-] [-]

"It looks like a blood filed." M-21 muttered under his breath and immediately checked to see if Frankenstein was within hearing range.

"What happened?" Tao asked, too dumbfounded to come up with a clever joke.

"Do you mean that it wasn't you?" Regis glared at the snowman. A black robe covered its body, and a plastic scythe still rested in its hand. "Is this supposed to be Seira?"

"Um, guys?" Take followed the red trail to the street. "I think our snowman murdered every snowman on the bock."

"We should clean this up before the boss finds out…or the neighbors."

* * *

><p>AN: If you have an EGScans account, you can see a picture of the grim reaper snowman on my thread there. It's in the Noblesse fandom area of the forums.


	32. Chapter 32

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p>"Hey," Tao leaned against the doorframe and tried not to grimace at the reluctance in his voice. He cleared his throat, but it only tightened, restricting his airway. Swallowing did nothing to help, and he felt as though he would choke if he tried to speak the words now.<p>

Takeo looked up at him, unsure what to expect, and his blue eyes searched for a reason behind his behavior, penetrating every movement and every action until nothing was left unobserved. How very fitting of a sniper. Tao tried to smile, but the gesture felt too forced. His hands gripped his laptop in a death hold. This was just like standing before a firing squad.

Takeo was waiting, and prolonging this any further would only increase his suspicions. Tao closed the door and sat down on the floor next to him. A dismantled rifle lay on the ground as Takeo systematically cleaned the residue from each piece. It would take the man a moment to reassemble the weapon, and that would grant him a brief window to escape should he need to. Tao's eyes glanced back to the door. He should have left that open.

"What's the matter with you?" Takeo asked, his voice light and his smile genuine. He set down the last of the pieces and began to pack the cleaning supplies. "Hiding from the boss?"

"Hey, um, Takeo?" Tao tried again, but the words stuck to his tongue. He took a deep breath to free them and set his laptop before his friend. "I found something."

"What are you talking about?" The lightness left his tone as his voice sobered, and he lifted the lid of the laptop. She stared back at him, her face frozen and glowing from the computer's soft light. Red hair caressed her cheeks, and her eyes held him with an unforgivable stillness. He lost himself in time, memorizing every attribute as he forgot to question why Tao would show him this picture again. He had seen it once before, during the meeting over the Cerberus members, and he had lost his concentration while looking at her that time, too. She felt so familiar somehow.

"I…" Tao coughed, breaking him from the trance. "I found your sister."

"But that's impossible." The words left his mouth before he realized that he had spoken. "I don't have a sister. It was a lie. I don't…"

"I had some trouble finding her. There's no documentation, but I did come across a sample from her. I had Frankenstein cross-reference your DNA. He confirmed it."

"But I don't…"

"Just because Dr. Arith was lying doesn't mean that you didn't have one. She must have gotten the idea from somewhere." Tao set his hand on Takeo's shoulder and dared to meet the eyes that could see through him. "And just because you have given up looking doesn't mean that I ever did."


	33. Chapter 33

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p><strong>An Apology<strong>

"It is time to wake up."

His eyes cracked open slightly, allowing to first light to reach them in days, and he slowly turned his gaze to his servant. "Frankenstein…"

"Master," Frankenstein stared down at him as his own eyes drowned in worry, "I have woken you as I promised."

"I am…" His voice trembled, and he swallowed in a feeble effort to silence it. "I am sorry."

"Please, don't apologize."

"I am.. sorry, Frankenstein." The words were spoken so softly, so tenderly, but they held a weight beneath them that broke through the gentleness of his tone. He took a slow, tedious breath, laboring far too much to have awaken this early. "I am…"

"Master, please…" Frankenstein anxiously kneeled next to him. "You don't need to exert yourself. You've only just awaken. Please… you don't need to say anything."

"Frankenstein, I am sorry…" His fingers wrapped around the edge of the coffin, shaking as he pulled himself to a sitting position. "I am always hurting you." 


	34. Chapter 34

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

**Tis the Season (Part 3)**

"Have you noticed how many Christmas cards the boss has gotten?" Tao tossed a stack of envelopes on the coffee table and sat down next to Rai. "And they're from important people, too. Government officials. The elite."

"Wouldn't he get a lot of cards from his students, too?" Takeo took one from the pile and turned it over in his hands. "Do kids still do that?"

"His admirers have dwindled down a little bit since he has some competition now, but-"

Takeo dropped the envelope. "What are you talking about?"

"Just think about it!" Tao quickly sorted through the cards and broke them into a two piles. "Before we came along, Frankenstein had the students' affections to himself. Now that we're here, we've broken his monopoly. There are a lot more choices so he wouldn't get as many cards from them." He tapped on the smaller of the two piles. "And so he now gets less cards from the children than he does from his governmental contacts."

Rai picked up one of the envelopes with curiosity.

[-] [-] [-]

Tao ran into the office without knocking and excitedly dumped an armload of cards on Frankenstein's desk. "Which one do you like best?"

Frankenstein looked up suspiciously but then continued working as though nothing had happened. "What are you planning?"

"It's a surprise. Just pick one."

"Any of these will do." He grabbed one from the top and held it out.

"Perfect!" Tao took it and left as quickly as he had come.

Frankenstein stopped working and frowned at the heap of cards left behind.

[-] [-] [-]

"Mail's here!" Tao carried the bundle of cards into the living room and began to sort through them.

"Quite a few came today." Frankenstein smiled, watching his master's eyes light when Tao set a card in front of him. And then another. And then another.

Rai delicately opened the first envelope and read the card.

"Here." Tao held up the last card. "This one's for you."

"Just put it with the others."

"I think you might want to read it now."

Frankenstein opened it. It was the same card he had picked earlier. "Thank you, Master."

[-] [-] [-]

"You shouldn't be reading those."

"I can't help it." Tao grinned and stole another card. "Frankenstein sent his master every card that I left behind. He even wrote a note in each one."

"The plan worked." Takeo smiled back. "We got them to give each other cards, and we didn't even get caught."


	35. Chapter 35

****Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p><strong>Tis the Season (Part 4)<strong>

"Check this out." Tao plugged in the Christmas lights and stepped back to admire his creation. Reindeer were scattered across the lawn, and they slowly lifted their heads as if looking up from eating grass.

"That's it?" M-21 asked rather flatly, leaving no doubt that he was unimpressed. "You made such a big deal about it that I at least expected it to be set to music."

"Like in those Youtube videos?" Takeo asked and shook his head. "Those things take months to prepare. With this short notice, the best you could do would be to put it on a motion sensor."

"I'll do it!" Tao announced. "And I'll finish it before the boss gets home."

[-] [-] [-]

Frankenstein stopped at the edge of the driveway and glared at the house. Even in the darkness, he could see the wires hooked to the siding. Where ever Tao was, he would pay for this.

Rai kept walking, tripping the motion sensor, and a thin line of lights illuminated either side of the path. Music began to play, slowly at first, but it rose in volume and fever as the lights spread further into the yard. Patterns flashed in time with the sounds, creating an impressive display. Then, the music began to somber into a kingly march, and perfectly on cue with Rai's steps, the reindeers came to life. Each one was paired across the path, and they lifted and lowered their heads in unison, bowing before the Noblesse.

Frankenstein smiled and followed behind his master. Tao's punishment could wait a few days.

* * *

><p><strong>Tis the Season (Part 5)<strong>

"Wake up."

The covers flew from his bed, and Regis scrambled to catch them. "What are you doing."

"Get out of bed." Tao whispered as he returned the blankets. "Get dressed. We're going to wait for Santa."

"Who's that?"

"Stop teasing the kid." M-21 flipped on the light and leaned against the doorway. "We're sneaking out. Hurry up."

"But it's midnight." Regis pulled his blanket over his shoulders and looked between the two men. "M-21, you're okay with this?"

"It was his idea." Tao laughed.

"Hurry up." M-21 pulled Tao out of the room so that Regis could get dressed and joined Takeo in the living room. "What's open this time of night?"

"You set this up, and you didn't even check to see if there's anything open? It's midnight on Christmas Eve." Tao pulled out his phone and began to search the internet for the nearest location. "Looks like Noblesse Café."

Rai looked up, and they all flinched. No one had noticed him there.

"Would you…" M-21 walked over to the coffee table. "Would you like to come?"

[-] [-] [-]

"Hey, why isn't there any Christmas music playing?" Tao asked as the waiter delivered their meals.

Derrick shrugged carelessly. "The boss got tired of listening to it."

"It's the last day that you can hear it. Christmas is almost over. You have to play something."

"It's the boss' decision."

"If you want to hear it that badly, why don't you sing one yourself?" Regis asked sarcastically and instantly regretted it. He glanced over to make sure Tao hadn't taken him seriously, but it was the waiter that had a gleam in his eyes.

"I can do that." Derrick announced, setting down his tray. "What do you want to hear?"

"How about Jingle Bells?" Tao asked, and Takeo kicked him under the table. "What was that for? He offered."

"Pick something harder than that." Takeo pulled out his wallet and held it up between his fingers as he looked at the waiter. "We'll each add a dollar to your tip for every song you sing, but you had better be good."

"What song?" He grinned.

"Silent Night?" Regis said hesitantly. "But I don't have any money."

"Don't worry about that.' Tao leaned over the table to face the nobles. "Takeo'll cover both of you."

"Money on the table." Takeo threw his cash down while the others anted up, and he looked at the waiter expectantly. "It's a deal."

Derrick cleared his throat and began to sing.

M-21 smirked across the table at Takeo. "Hope you brought a lot of cash. He's good."

"That was great!" Tao laughed, already thinking of choices for the next song. "Too bad the others aren't here for this!"

[-] [-] [-]

"Hey, sorry we're late." Shinwoo shoved a table next to theirs and slid into the seat beside Rai. "It took Yuna awhile to convince her mom to let her come out this late."

"She only agreed once she heard that Principal Lee was going to be here with Rai." Yuna peeled off her coat and hung it from the back of her chair. "Where is he?"

"Um…" Tao leaned over far to close for M-21's comfort and lowered his voice. "Did you mention this to the boss?"

"No." M-21 pushed him away. "Who do you think would invite the kids?"

Tao glanced over to Rai. "Oh."

"Newcomers, huh?" Derrick appeared with a pitcher to refill their glasses. "You're my second set of customers tonight. Not a lot of people out this late on Christmas Eve."

"It's Christmas Day now." Frankenstein walked in with Seira and frowned when he saw the seat next to Rai was taken. He quickly replaced it with a bright smile. "Merry Christmas, everyone."

A chorus of "Merry Christmases" rang through the air in return.

**Tis the Season (Part 6)**

* * *

><p>"I am ready." Rai stood, and with that quiet movement, all focus fell upon him.<p>

"Yes, master." Frankenstein grabbed his coat and pulled it over his shoulders as they walked out the door. Snow gently drifted from the sky, and a think layer of white already coated the sidewalk. "I thought the park this year."

"Very well." Rai walked in silence. Trees lined the sidewalk at intervals, and the Christmas lights wrapped in their branches lit the path as much as the streetlights above. These increased as they neared the park until lights filled the sky like a halo of stars.

"This is breathtaking." Frankenstein stared into them as they passed overhead. "I have been coming here every Christmas for years. I had hoped to be able to show them to you someday."

"Would you like your Christmas present here?"

"Yes, let's sit down." Frankenstein quickly dusted off the park bench, and Rai sat beside him. "I'm ready now."

"This year has been full of many new things." Rai smiled as he stared into the lights, and hours passed as he spoke.

* * *

><p>AN: Merry Christmas~

(In case you're wondering why the waiter is named Derrick, it's because that is his name. That really happened although I didn't tell the whole story.)


	36. Chapter 36

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p>This is an attempt at writing "Broken Glass" from Rai's POV, so if you haven't read that story yet, then don't read this. I just rewrote chapter 3, and I can't really decide it it works or not. I'm not very happy with it, but I guess it's okay. It's just a little weird to have so much from Rai, I think.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>The Shattering<br>**

Blackness twisted through the trees, strangling their trucks and scaling their branches until even their very tops suffocated beneath the weight of it, and even this darkness was better than the desolation that haunted him inside. The solitude, the absence of a presence, gathered in the farthest corners of the room, stirring the shadows to life as the sun sank deeper in the sky, and the earth rose to strike out the last traces of fading light. Emptiness tainted the atmosphere like a poison and forced itself into his lungs with every breath. It churned inside his chest, tightening until the pain became too great to bear, and he opened the window just to sense the lives beyond it wisp through the air. This small reprieve was the only relief from the misery of his isolation, and he closed his eyes to protect himself from another forsaken night.

And then the fist tendril of someone approaching swayed upon the breeze. It whispered to him faintly as if it was as untouchable and uncontainable as a phantom. It felt unfamiliar and dark and so unlike the souls of the nobles. Hatred collapsed in upon itself as the aura turned against its master, and the owner of the power, although unbound, saw only the depravity of his chains. The man glared into the water as he passed the lake, and his own image trembled unstably on the surface, drowning in the shadow of the mansion. Realizing he was alone, he looked up from this distraction and followed his captor into the house.

"Cadis Etrama di Raizel-nim." The Kertia clan leader spoke softly with a deep reverence that only strengthened the divide between them. "Forgive my interruption. I have a message from the lord." He placed the letter on the windowsill next to his hand and withdrew immediately, reforming the distance he had just gapped.

Wordlessly, he lifted the envelope from the windowsill and removed the letter from within.

_Cadis Etrama di Raizel,_

_If you refuse to join me in the castle, please accept this pet peacock as a companion. He is a little unruly, but at least you won't be bored._

_Sincerely,_

_The lord_

"A peacock?" He asked simply without turning from the window.

"The human is to be your servant." Ragar's gaze shifted toward the door.

The prisoner stood just out of sight, unaware that the others had realized his eavesdropping, and his heart fell at these words. A life of servitude was no different than a life of imprisonment. This was not what he wanted.

"I decline."

"If you do not wish to keep him, I will return him to confinement."

The emotions around the human wavered a second time. Dread ruptured his carefully formed resolve, but he concealed this anxiety within himself. Banishing any vestiges of it from his countenance, he peeked through the doorway for the first time. He said nothing as he watched his captor, but the desire for freedom still permeated his thoughts.

"I will accept." The answer formed on his lips before he could consider the consequences.

"I understand. I shall leave him in your care." Ragar bowed swiftly and swept through the doorway in order to give the answer to the lord.

And like that, they were alone.

The man hesitated at the edge of the room, uncertain whether to enter or leave. After all he had struggled to obtain, after finally achieving power, had he only gained it at the cost of his own freedom?

The thought had been asked so vulnerably that he looked back at him. He, too, understood the cost that came with power. The sacrifice that it required.

"I am Frankenstein." The man announced at once, failing to uphold the reverence that the clan leader had used. The genuineness of his thoughts evaporated, and already his eyes filled with deception. "A pleasure to meet you."

He looked away again. Soon enough this man would disappear. Only the darkness kept him company in this place.


	37. Chapter 37

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p><strong>To Pay the Price<strong>

"It's finished." Zarga wrapped the chain of his soul weapon around the length of his forearm, and once it was neatly coiled in perfect loops, he allowed it to dissolve into thin air.

"He put up a good fight for what he was."

"It was still like killing a child." He glared down at the body at his feet. A pool of blood leaked from it and swirled around his shoes before sinking into the earth. "Both weak and naive. He actually begged me to leave the humans alone. He had nothing left but death, and he still thought his words could sway me? Such foolishness."

"You certainly made a mess of him. Was that really necessary?"

Ignoring the question, Zarga swiped the back of his hand across his brow, leaving behind a smear of sweat and blood. A second pass cleared the remnant away, and he glanced back to his accomplice. "Did you simply come to watch?"

"I already killed mine."

"That was faster than I expected. This one was like a child, but I thought you would have a harder time with Gejutel."

"It wasn't Gejutel." Roctis sidestepped the blood and stooped down next to the Loyard clan leader's corpse. The Union would be displeased with the amount of damage the specimen suffered. "You should have showed more restraint."

"It wasn't Gejutel? Who was sent?"

"His son."

"Roussare?" Zarga laughed a single note that immediately fell flat. "Another child."

"It would have been better if it was Gejutel. He knows too much about us, but it will be more believable this way. Lukedonia will be shocked enough to learn that modified humans were able to kill someone of this level. They may question our involvement if it was someone of Gejutel's skill." Roctis stood and brushed the dust from his hands. "You should have held back more, or did you forget that we still must return to the Union with these?"

Zarga reluctantly lifted the body of the Loyard clan leader from the ground and hoisted him onto his shoulder. "Soon enough we'll trade these robes for that of the elders. The cost is not so much."


	38. Chapter 38

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p>"I hate this." Tao's fingers curled into his sleeves, bunching the fabric of his shirt as he buried face into his arms. His voice sounded pathetic, broken, like a man who had just lost everything. "The other children are getting better. Why is it only you?"<p>

"Considering the state that he came to me, this is an improvement."

Tao bit his lip, using that small amount of pain to fight back the tears, and he pushed himself up onto his elbows. The heart monitor beeped at a pace too slow and irregular to sustain consciousness, and the boy attached to them looked as though he was already in the grave. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough." Frankenstein frowned as he adjusted the oxygen level. "The other children are faring well. It will turn around for him, too."

"I know you're lying."

Frankenstein took the chart from the foot of the bed and jotted down the current status of his patient. "What makes you say that?"

"Every time we come down to the lab, I watch you. I read the charts, try to figure out what you're doing." Tao glanced over at the oxygen tank then closed his eyes. "You're worried about his breathing. It's too shallow, and he needs oxygen. If he doesn't start breathing better soon, he'll probably develop phenomena. His heart's even worse. His pulse is so weak that it can't pump blood properly, and his organs are in system failure. Even if he did recover, he'd probably have brain damage. The poison has already broken down his cells beyond the point that a human can survive. Right now you're just hoping that he stays in a coma long enough for you to think of something, but you know that unless you enhance him, he's going to die."

"So you know." Frankenstein gently set chart down on the bed, and his voice was softer than he had ever used with any of them before. "Are you asking me to enhance him?"

"I... Ikhan was the start for me. If it wasn't for him..." Tao crossed his arms over the side of the bed again and sank down into them. "It's so horrifying to be enhanced. I never want him to experience that, but if he doesn't, he'll die..."

Frankenstein set his hand on his shoulder for a brief moment and and immediately pulled it away. "I'll think of something."

"Please," his fingers clawed into his shirt, and he couldn't bring himself to look up. "I'm asking you. Please... don't let him die."

* * *

><p>This was written based on a picture of Tao-just a quickly thrown together story.<p> 


	39. Chapter 39

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p><strong>Something or Other that Resembles a Fitting Title<br>**

"I'm sorry."

The softness of her voice pulled his attention away from the gum and candy that adorned the checkout, tempting customers to grab one last item before it was too late. He looked up at her, but she was looking down at the counter where his card laid flat beneath her fingers. She pushed it forward, scrapping it along the surface until it was closer to him, and immediately withdrew her hand to the safety of her side. He looked up at her again, awaiting an explanation.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, lowering her voice inconspicuously in a way that filled him with dread. "Your card has been declined."

He immediately glanced back at Takeo. The man busily flipped through some fashion magazine that he had probably grabbed to look like he hadn't just overheard the embarrassing conversation. At least he had the decency to overlook the situation. That only left-

"Need to borrow some money?" Tao grinned at him from the other side with the mischievous playfulness of a cat and seemed to be enjoying the situation far more than was socially appropriate. He flashed a wad of cash, rubbing his wealth in M-21's face in a rather tactless manner. "But I warn you that I charge interest."

"Not a chance." M-21 returned his gaze to Takeo, but that man's face was buried even further into the magazine in a way that was starting to look more like avoidance than politeness. "Can I-"

Takeo flinched.

"Borrow…"

His cheeks reddened, and he resignedly dropped his magazine back into its slot although still refusing to meet M-21's eyes. "I…"

"He's broke!" Tao cheered and handed the cashier enough cash to cover the purchase. "He ran out of money long before you did."

"Hey!" Takeo shouted, first annoyed that his friend had shared that information and then disturbed that he had known it to begin with. "How did you-"

"You think I can't find your checking account?" Tao took the bag and the change from the clerk. "I can find a whole lot more than that… like who asked the boss for a raise."

"You didn't!" Takeo and M-21 shouted in unison only to look at each other in surprise. "You too?"

"I could have told you that that would never work." Tao pranced out onto the sidewalk, leaving them no choice but to miserably follow. If he had been enjoying this before, then he was rolling in jubilation now. "I bet he gave you a lecture on spending your money wisely."

"You spend more than us." M-21 retorted sharply. "All that computer equipment can't be cheap."

"He has a point." Takeo agreed, starting to grow worried. "Just why do you have so much money?"

"Don't you know?" He laughed-more of a girlish giggle, actually-and prolonged the suspense in hope that they would answer the rhetorical question. When they didn't, he provided one for them. "I'm thrifty!" This declaration had somehow been announced conveniently outside of a thrift store.

Takeo was the first to interrupt the awkward half second of stunned silence with an equally awkward choked snort. "You're kidding, right?"

That finally dropped Tao's excitement level down a notch. "I'm serious. I love thrift stores. Everything's so cheap."

That, in turn, caught Takeo's attention. "How cheap?"

"Pennies on the dollar sometimes." He winked, immediately returning to his former ecstasy.

"Thrift stores are trending right now." Takeo murmured to himself, glad that he had just happened to read an article about hipsters in that fashion magazine. They liked thrift stores. "What do you think, M-21?"

"Count me out." He shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked at some imaginary rock on the sidewalk, which in reality only caused him to scuff his shoe. "Any idea of Tao's is a bad idea."

"That's cold." Tao's face twisted into a pout that probably suited Shinwoo better than him, but the expression disappeared immediately anyway so there was no real need to mention it. Instead, he lifted his finger, counting the first of what was sure to be an endless series of more or less valid points if he was allowed to carry on like this. "Think about it. How many suits have we had to purchase recently?"

"One for every fight." M-21 admitted somewhat hesitantly, already looking for a way out of this conversation. "So what?"

"How much does a brand new suit cost compared to a used suit from a thrift store?" Tao walked inside the building while they were still calculating the difference. "If I didn't cut corners with cost, I would never be able to afford matching RK-5 shirts."

"What?" Takeo and M-21 both asked rather flatly. They needed to knock off being so in sync before they started to sound like twins or a boy band.

"Seira's picking them up right now. She should be here in a few minutes. Might as well look around." He glanced back at them with a deviance that was sure to smirch them. "I'll even buy you something for humoring me."

Takeo stared at M-21, pleading with him to go along with the charade in a way that only made him look desperate. He probably was. As pricy as they were, those fancy little shampoos came in the tiniest of bottles. Not really cost effective but they did make his hair shine like the midday sun.

"Fine." M-21 begrudgingly gave in. "It can't be that bad."

Just then, Tao smiled in a way that threatened just how bad it could be. "You know, they have Halloween costumes here all year long…"

"Don't even think about it." M-21 took off to the safety of the men's department. Surely, there wouldn't be anything too hazardous there. He was wrong. Very wrong. Most of the clothing looked like it came out of the 80s… which suddenly explained Tao's off the shoulder sweater. At least it wasn't something that would put "Pretty in Pink" to shame. (Not that he would ever admit to having seen that movie.) M-21 snatched the first pair of blue jeans that weren't acid washed and fled into the dressing room.

"You in here?" Tao's voice found him within moments, and a shirt sailed over the top of his sanctuary. "Try that on, too."

M-21 pulled it on and immediately jumped through the door. "Alright, I'll get this. Now let's go."

"I just meant it as a joke. I didn't think you'd actually go for it."

M-21 glanced down at his shirt. Some unbelievably adorable, blue unicorn flashed its cutie mark at him-He also wouldn't admit to knowing what a cutie mark was-like an escapee from "My Little Pony." (Luckily the "Friendship is Magic" version. The original wasn't that great. Not that he knew that, either.) "What's this? Did you get this out of the girls' section?"

"Of course not!" Tao dodged a glare of accusation. "Would I give you something that wasn't for men?" He would, in fact, but he hadn't this time. "My Little Pony" had a surprisingly large male fan base. Of course companies would solicit sales from that valuable demographic. This he admit openly to knowing, not that he claimed to be a brony himself. "But if you don't like it, you can try on your "RK-5 No. 4" shirt!" Here, he gestured to the shirt that he was now mysteriously wearing. That must have meant that Seira had arrived.

As if to confirm that, Seira appeared with a handful of vampire cloaks that failed to outshine Belle Lugosi in all his glory. They looked much more like cut up black trash bags than anything fit for public appearance. She was already wearing hers, and she handed the rest to Tao. "There were only four."

"We're one short." Tao tied his around his shoulders and pulled a gray mask out of nowhere. This he placed over his eyes.

"It will be my honor to forego the cloak." Regis (he came in with Seira) said with all the pride and elegance that he could muster. He glanced at Seira from the corner of his eye to see whether she approved. By her completely blank expression, she did. She even blushed a little under her mask. Yes, she somehow had one, too.

"So." Tao flung one arm around Takeo and swung his other arm toward M-21 although he attempted to block it. "That leaves a cloak for each of you!"

Why any of them needed a cloak to start with remained unexplained.

* * *

><p>AN: This was written as a request. I had to write a story for a picture that the requester made. Remove the spaces and add the dots to get the link.

forest-warrior **DOT **deviantart **DOT** com/art/RK5-363172232?ga_submit_new=10%253A1364942568


	40. Chapter 40

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

* * *

><p><strong>Raskreia<strong>

She raised herself to her tiptoes and stretched her hand as high as it could go which wasn't very high. Her fingertips barely grazed the fourth drawer of the dresser, coming in a full drawer too short, and she lifted one foot from the ground as if this would somehow help her overcome the distance, which it did not. She dropped down to both feet again and crossed her arms in a very unladylike pout. She was always the most unladylike when she thought he wasn't watching, and it didn't help that he had purposely placed what she wanted beyond her grasp. He even left the handle jutting out from the edge just to tease her, and considering the way she glowered up at it with a face far too determined for a child, she was not as all amused.

In a moment, he would rush in and rescue Daddy's little princess from the situation that he had created for her. She wouldn't be grateful, of course-she was as vain as her mother-but he had so few opportunities to be her hero that he had to create a few of his own. She realized this sometimes and pretended not to other times, but she never once asked him for help no matter how much he wished she would. It was that streak of stubborn pride that reminded him the most his wife, and he catered to it far too much for it not to become a dominate trait in his daughter.

The sound of wood scraping against wood broke him of his thoughts, and he looked up in time to see her pull out the second dresser drawer to create a stair step with the bottom drawer. The third drawer soon followed, and she mounted the first drawer to climb her way to the top. She was a clever child, he would give her that, but she was more likely to topple the whole thing down upon herself than to reach her goal. It was time to intervene.

"Raskreia, dear, let Daddy do that." He wrapped his hands around her waist and delicately set her on the ground.

She gave him an extremely unladylike glare, an expression very fitting of her mother, and with all her restraint, kept her strained voice to a somewhat quiet level. "I can get it on my own."

"Of course you can." He patted her head, which added a dark blush to the glare, and it was only a matter of time before she revealed whether that blush was a mark of embarrassment or anger. The latter, likely. He turned back to the dresser before she could show him just how well she could do alone, and pushed in the open drawers. Knowing her, she could do it just fine without him. "But Daddy likes to help."

"I can do it." She grabbed the chair from the vanity and dragged it toward him, but he was already holding the mirror. Her lips pressed into a cute little frown. "I said I could do it by myself."

"Is that so?" He smiled playfully and looked at himself in the little handheld mirror. "Then I suppose I should just put this back."

Her bottom lip protruded a little, and she quickly sucked it back in, trying to maintain a shred of dignity. "If it's already in you hand…"

"What did you say, my little Raskreia?" The words hummed happily in a musical tone, and he dangled the mirror precariously in the air.

The frown deepened, and she looked up at the dresser, judging the distance before she quietly tacked on the word he was waiting for. "Please."

"I didn't quite hear you!"

"…Please." The level of her voice raised but so did the level of her impatience.

"What was that?"

"Please put it back on the dresser! I'll get it myself!" The chair bumped against the side of the dresser, and she climbed onto it, standing with her feet in the seat. From this height, she could easily reach the top of the dresser, and she looked back at him with an yielding defiance.

"A lady shouldn't shout, Raskreia." He set the mirror down for her, and she immediately snatched it before he had a chance to change his mind. "You know, that was your mother's."

Her fingers delicately traced along the carved handle. "I know."

Of course she knew. He had told her this countless times, and it was for this reason that she liked the mirror at all. "If you pulled your hair back, you would look just like her."

This she didn't know. She settled down, sitting in a more ladylike manner, and very hesitantly ventured a glance up at him. That was as close to asking as she would ever come.

"I'll show you." He spun her chair around and pushed it, along with her, toward the vanity. "Your mother did this to my hair once."

Raskreia looked up at him, forcing his fingers to follow the motion as he looped the first strands into place. "She did not."

"She did so!" He announced before his daughter tried to stop him. She so rarely let him treat her this way, and if he fell silent for just a second, he was likely to lose this moment to her pride. "I was asleep in my shrine, and I awoke with my hair weaved into this intricate bun. I spent a full day like that before I noticed. Your mother simply handed me the mirror that you're holding now and walked away without a word. Never did admit to doing it in the first place. She was very mischievous under that sober guise, very stubborn. I never knew quite what to expect, and she used that to keep my eyes always upon her. I was always chasing her."

"But you caught her somehow. You had to if you got married!" Raskreia said a little too eagerly and snapped her mouth shut again, too headstrong to allow herself to show interest. "You only caught her because she wanted to be caught."

"No, I did catch her once." He smiled at her in the mirror, and she instantly turned it so that she could not see his reflection. "Only once. It was before we were married, before I became the lord. I had been trying to win her over for years. I pursued her constantly, but she never took notice of me. You wouldn't believe the things I would try just for a fleeting second of her attention! No matter what I did, she always eluded me. She was never quite attainable, but that only made me love her all the more. She was so strong willed, so untouchable, that it took me centuries to make her laugh, but the moment that I did, I couldn't help myself. I took her in my arms and kissed her right then and there. She was surprised, but-"

"She thought it was romantic." Raskreia smiled faintly, forgetting not to be engrossed, and immediately concealed the expression.

"She never admitted to it if she did!" He laughed and tucked the last lock of hair into place only to pat her on the head. "Daddy's finished."

"Stop that!" She smacked his hand away with all the pride of her mother that had always kept him at a distance. All the stubbornness that had once entranced him. Raskreia touched her hand to her hair as she watched herself in the mirror. "I look just like her?"

"Exactly like her, dear. You'll have love struck boys chasing after you soon enough."

"Just like you?"

"Yes, boys just like…" He frowned at that thought and twisted her chair around to face him. "No boys!"

* * *

><p>AN: Below is a start of a story that I find interesting, but I don't have the time to complete it right now. It's incomplete.

* * *

><p>"He's gone?"<p>

Raskreia looked up at her father as silence settled over him. The words were spoken so softly that they were meant for no one other than himself, and as he would have desired, she pretended not to hear. He never confided in her, no matter how small the matter, and now that he had said something that must be of some importance to him, she must wait to hear it explained from another if it was ever explained at all. So instead of looking to her father, Raskreia turned toward the messenger.

"He disappeared a few weeks ago." Gejutel's hand slowly slid from his chest as if the weight of the message had forced him from his usual formalities, and the gentleness in his voice attempted to soften the gravity of the situation.

"I see." The lord sounded more clearly now, recovering from the initial shock or perhaps just repressing it until he was alone. "Are you certain he has disappeared?"

"I spoke with Frankenstein."

"Then he has been left behind?"

"It would seem so."

"Gejutel, form a search-" The lord abruptly cut the sentence short and glanced over at his daughter. "Raskreia, my dear?"

"Please excuse me, Father." She said before he could send her away and marched out of the room in defeat.


	41. Chapter 41

"I have had countless children sent to my office, Han Shinwoo; You, yourself, are one, but in all my time as principal and chairman of Ye Ran, this is the first time that _I _have been sent to the office." Frankenstein gently pulled out one of the visitor's chairs from Lim Taesik's desk and turned it toward the boy before sitting down. "This is a rather unusual experience."

"I'm sorry." Shinwoo tightly clasped his hands together and stared down at them instead of meeting the man's gaze. "I didn't mean for you to get dragged into this. The KSA wanted to call my dad, but he's… I didn't know what to do so I gave them your name, and after that these two agents came in and… Chairman, they were teachers from school."

"Yes, I am aware."

"You knew?" Shinwoo's eyes shot up with a look of accusation and then back down at his hands. "Yeah, I guess you would have to know for them to come to the school, but you would never have imagined that they came to do something like _that_."

Frankenstein innocently held a smile. "Like what, Shinwoo?"

"You'd never believe me." Shinwoo rose from his chair and anxiously paced the distance between the wall and the empty desk. "But then, if Seira… maybe you would."

"Seira?" Frankenstein watched him slow to a standstill in front of the window. "Shinwoo, why exactly have you come here?"

"Chairman, I… I confessed to Seira." Shinwoo reached up and touched the windowpane, using the motion as a distraction. The image of his fingers reflected perfectly on the glass and blurred the further it moved from his touch. "She wouldn't give me an answer, not even to turn me down. She just stared back at me without saying anything until tears formed in her eyes, and Regis came to get her. He's the one who told me that it wasn't allowed, that we were too different, but even he wouldn't explain more than that. I asked Ikhan about it, and he found out a few things. He found out what Regis meant, and he found places that could… change the situation. I thought that if I could join the KSA, they could make me... And maybe if I was stronger…"

"Shinwoo," Frankenstein said delicately as he stood, "Even if it meant being together, Seira would never want this kind of life for you."

"Chairman," Shinwoo's hand slid from the window, "why does it never work out with any of the girls I like?"


	42. Chapter 42

**A Decision in Death**

His knees slammed into the pavement, and his hands skid across the ground in a desperate attempt to stop himself as his upper body buckled forward. Blood field wavered, suddenly losing momentum as the rotation broke from the cycle and fell like rain from the sky. Blood pooled beneath him, dyeing his clothes with crimson stains. The taste of it filled his mouth, and did the blood on the ground really come from blood field or was his own blood? He felt so tired. Too tired to wonder what had happened. What had brought him to his knees.

A hand caught his shoulder and pulled him into a more comfortable position. It must have been strong, but it trembled so heavily that his whole body shook from the force. He turned his palms up, staring at the cuts on his skin, but couldn't comprehend why such small wounds had not yet healed. His fingers quivered, confusing his already blurred vision, and maybe it was him and not the other man's hand that trembled.

He turned toward his helper. Blue eyes stared into his as Frankenstein's face twisted in horror and grief. His lips were moving, shouting the same word over and over, and his chest began to heave into sobs as the word received no response. Rai had never seen tears in that man's eyes before, and his pain must be unbearable for him to show so much misery now. He closed his eyes and listened in the way that only he could as their emotions intertwined, and he, too, filled with the same sorrow. The same endless despair. The knowledge that this would not heal even after the ages of eternity had passed, and the first vestiges of loneliness crept in. The same loneliness that he had known once. His fingers reached up to touch the hand on his shoulder, to offer his servant one last show of support, and the connection suddenly broke as a decision was made. New emotions emerged, too strong to deny although the Frankenstein tried to hide it. A desire, a determination, to end this pain. A decision for death.

Rai's eyes shot open, filling with light as he, too, made a decision. The pain of death could be eased for one of them, and it was his final wish to protect him from this suffering. Memories faded, disappearing as the years fell away. The hand on his shoulder withdrew, abandoning him in these last moments. Their friendship forgotten.


	43. Chapter 43

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

This is Rael's POV on Seira. Just looking at their relationship (or lack there of) from a different perspective.

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><p><strong>Unwanted<strong>

The starless night hangs above us, weighed down by darkness like a mirror to our own blindness, and neither of us can see to save the other. Your hand touches the wooden railing with a tenderness that I have never known, and I can still remember the day that I dared to take it into mine. My fingers twisted around yours too tightly, and my words came too loosely, unbridled and undignified as they spilled from my lips. My voice quavered yet left nothing unsaid as I laid my heart bear before you. I fell to one knee, and I begged you to be mine. And having offered you everything, my gaze sought yours. Only then did I see the coldness burning behind your eyes, the callous that you had built within yourself since the loss of your father, and the desire not to feel anything. Without remorse, you branded me unwanted, and you turned your face away. My hands released yours, and finally I realized that even though you never pulled away, your fingers never held mine in return.

My breath sharpens as the memory comes to me anew, and I push it down before you become aware of this change. I cannot-I must not-let you see my pain. I burry it beneath a heart of stone as you have buried yours. Numbness overtakes us, but I cannot let your emotions go unspoken. I will be your anger. I will be your rage. I will give voice to your pain. You don't understand my corruption, that you are the cause of it, and I don't understand how you cannot feel this hate. I will protect you from those who took your father. I will regain what they have taken away, and in this way, I still offer you my hand even though I know that you will never take it.

I step forward and lay my hand next to yours, but I no longer hope that they will touch. You have never moved towards me. You have never tried to see through the mask I wear for you. Grotesque buildings of steel and concrete reflect in your eyes as you turn your face from me, and the marred horizon fills your sight. You would rather look upon destruction than see into me.

And I, I am watching you.


	44. Chapter 44

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

Warning: Sad.

I have also included a second copy of this story that is a little more developed, but I like the original draft better.

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><p>The world has stopped.<p>

I fall backwards, landing on the turned covers of my bed, and stare into the ceiling for hours if not days. I feel nothing. Not the passage of time. Not the lethargy that has crept into my bones. My muscles feel stiff, taut where they are stretched across my chest, and my arm imperfectly hides my face beneath the crook of my elbow. I can still see the steady rotation of the ceiling fan turn above my head. The gentle clicks of the spinning blades count the seconds like the hands of a clock; Sunlight melts into shadows and burns into day again, and even with these reminders, I cannot account for the days.

A soft knock sounds from the other side of my bedroom door, and M-21's voice is quieter than I am accustomed to. His steps pace across the floor in a surprisingly anxious, wolf-like manner. Quickened beats followed by a sharp and sudden turn like an animal caged. He stops only to knock once more and raises his voice so that he knows I have heard before his steps stalk away.

My arm slides down to my side, the first movement in what feels like an eternity, and I slowly force myself into a sitting position, rigidly leaning forward with my arms on my knees. I lower my head until it hangs below my shoulders, and my hair droops down in a mess of listless waves, kinked and limp from where it had been fanned out on the bed. I am still in my clothes. I know I have not slept. I am unkempt, and it is unlike me to show this appearance before you.

You stand in the window, paying no attention to me. Rather, you are simply not looking at me. You know I would not want you to see me like this. You will respect this decision, but this does not stop you from worrying. Your mind lingers at the edge mine, distant enough not to be intrusive and close enough to show your support. I try to send you a false feeling of happiness, but the attempt is halfhearted and quickly fades.

My body operates although my thoughts are lost in this connection. It moves on its own to the dresser where a partially written copy of my latest manual lies still unfinished. You had requested it of me, and I had struggled to script it although I know the process well. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. The process of grieving. I had never understood why you had asked me to write it, but now that we are facing the loss of one of our own, I wish that I had been able to complete it if only to make the burden of this easier on you. You are grieving in your own way. You were quiet before, but you are silent now. Your words only come as thoughts into my mind, and the others have learned to accept this. They allow you this and wait for you to heal enough to speak again.

I take the finest suit from my closet and hook the hanger over the door. The dark fabric feels heavy and grievous, and I don't think I could ever wear it again after tonight. You are dressed in white. I smile weakly at this, hoping that this motion will deceive you but I know that you can see through it. The action is as fake as the condolences that await us, and I can't feel anything.

My anger stirs at this idea. I know that I should feel something. I should grieve in some way. I should break down after having loss someone like this, but nothing happens. Your eyes finally turn from the window, and you look directly into mine. I can tell you blame yourself, that you think I should blame you, and you're bargaining with yourself that if you can accept the responsibility, then you can somehow change the situation. I want to believe this. I want to believe we can fix this, and it is already too late. There is nothing that can be done, and I am far more guilty than you.

Another knock raps on my door, telling me it is time, and we walk outside for the first time since I had admitted my failure, my inability to change the circumstances. You stand next to my side as you have always done, accompanying me on our hardest journey together.

Regis is standing to the left of the hallway, Seira a step behind to his right, and his arms are crossed in a stern posture across his stomach. He looks as though he is chiding me, but his lips are trembling. They pull back into a grimace as a sob coughs out of his chest, and he doubles over in a state of pure agony. Seira catches his shoulder, wrapping one arm around his back and following him as he drops to his knees. I step forward to intervene, but your hand lightly touches my arm. It isn't right to interfere in their grief.

Tao calls to me, latching onto my left arm in a vain attempt to hold me in place or maybe just trying to keep himself together. Takeo appears to my right, and this sets off a procession toward another room. Regis and Seira disappear in as we move farther away. I can hear M-21's voice murmur oddly comforting words to the two, and I look behind me to see you. You are no longer there, lost somewhere in the crowd of mourners, and I pull against Tao's restraint. I knock his hands free, but he only grabs a hold of me with greater force. Takeo matches him in a more reluctant measure. They know that they cannot stop me if I try to break loose. I glare at both of them but am too bewildered to do more. I must find you, and my voice cracks with a simple word. "Master…"

"I know." Tao answers in a strangely practiced tone. He is nodding solemnly, his eyes averted from mine, and he repeats the line over and over. "I know. I know."

"He's inside." Takeo adds, far more hesitantly than he should have.

Tao bites his lip with a vicious expression. He is holding back words that he doesn't want me to hear, and Takeo seems to understand this. He waves for M-21 to come near, and the three of them gather around me. I shake them free and stomp proudly through the doors.

Flowers line the walls. Notes and cards that I do not read. My eyes are searching for you, and I find you standing at the front of the room. Everyone steps aside as I make my way toward you. My steps slow, and a hush falls over the room. You are watching me, observing me approach you, and I wish you would say something. Say anything if only to hear your voice, but you only look down at yourself lying in a wooden box. Your head resting on a red pillow. Your hands folded together. Your eyes closed as if in sleep.

Gejutel sets a hand on my shoulder, a gesture that he has only done once before when you first disappeared. My hand strikes his arm, knocking it away from me just as I had done then, but he seems to understand something that is beyond my reach. He whispers something meaningful, but I can't hear the words. I can't understand how you are asleep when you are standing right beside me, but I am pleading with you to open your eyes. You must wake up.

You touch my arm and look longingly into your own face. I finally feel the numbness fall from me as the realization of my loss sets in. You smile sadly, silently, and you step away from me. I can feel you leaving as I accept this truth, as I accept your death, and the image of you fades away.

* * *

><p><strong>This is the fuller version:<strong>

The world has stopped.

I fall backwards, landing on the turned covers of my bed, and stare into the ceiling for hours if not days. I feel nothing. Not the passage of time. Not the lethargy that has crept into my bones. My muscles feel stiff, taut where they are stretched across my chest, and my arm imperfectly hides my face beneath the crook of my elbow. I can still see the steady rotation of the ceiling fan turn above my head. The gentle clicks of the spinning blades count the seconds like the hands of a clock; Sunlight melts into shadows and burns into day again, and even with these reminders, I cannot account for the days.

A soft knock sounds from the other side of my bedroom door, and M-21's voice is quieter than I am accustomed to. His steps pace across the floor in a surprisingly anxious, wolf-like manner. Quickened beats followed by a sharp and sudden turn like an animal caged. He stops only to knock once more and raises his voice so that he knows I have heard before his steps stalk away.

My arm slides down to my side, the first movement in what feels like an eternity, and I slowly force myself into a sitting position, rigidly leaning forward with my arms on my knees. I lower my head until it hangs below my shoulders, and my hair droops down in a mess of listless waves, kinked and limp from where it had been fanned out on the bed. I am still in my clothes. I know I have not slept. I am unkempt, and it is unlike me to show this appearance before you.

You stand in the window, paying no attention to me. Rather, you are simply not looking at me. You know I would not want you to see me like this; You will respect this decision, but this does not stop you from worrying. Your mind lingers at the edge mine, distant enough not to be intrusive and close enough to show your support. I try to send you a false feeling of happiness, but the attempt is halfhearted and quickly fades.

My body operates although my thoughts are lost in this connection. It moves on its own to the dresser where a partially written copy of my latest manual lies still unfinished. You had requested it of me, and I had struggled to script it although I know the process well. Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance. The process of grieving. I had never understood why you had asked me to write it, but now that we are facing the loss of one of our own, I wish that I had been able to complete it if only to make the burden of this easier on you.

You are grieving in your own way. You were quiet before, but you are silent now. Your words only come as thoughts into my mind, and the others have learned to accept this. They allow you this and wait for you to heal enough to speak again.

I take the finest suit from my closet and hook the hanger over the door. The dark fabric feels heavy and grievous, and I don't think I can ever wear it again after tonight. You are dressed in white. I smile weakly at this, hoping that this motion will deceive you, but I know that you can see through it. The action is as fake as the condolences that await us, and I can't feel anything. I can't bring myself to believe it.

My anger stirs at this idea. I know that I should feel something. I should grieve in some way. I should break down after having loss someone like this, but nothing happens. Your eyes finally turn from the window, and you look directly into mine. I can tell you blame yourself, that you think I should blame you, and you're bargaining with yourself that if you can accept the responsibility, then you can somehow change the situation. I want to believe this. I want to believe we can fix this, but it is already too late. There is nothing that can be done, and I am far more guilty than you.

Another knock raps on my door, telling me it is time, and we walk outside for the first time since I had admitted my failure, my inability to change the circumstances. You stand next to my side as you have always done, accompanying me on our hardest journey together.

Regis is standing to the left of the hallway, Seira a step behind to his right, and his arms are crossed in a stern posture across his stomach. He looks as though he is chiding me, but his lips are trembling. They pull back into a grimace as a sob coughs out of his chest, and he doubles over in a state of pure agony. Seira catches his shoulder, wrapping one arm around his back and following him as he drops to his knees. I step forward to intervene, but your hand lightly touches my arm. It isn't right to interfere in their grief.

Tao calls to me, latching onto my left arm in a vain attempt to hold me in place or maybe just trying to keep himself together. Takeo appears to my right, and this sets off a procession toward another room. Regis and Seira disappear as we move farther away. I can hear M-21's voice murmur oddly comforting words to the two, and I look behind me to see you. You are no longer there, lost somewhere in the crowd of mourners, and I pull against Tao's restraint. I knock his hands free, but he only grabs a hold of me with greater force. Takeo matches him in a more reluctant measure. They both know that they cannot stop me if I try to break loose. I glare at them but am too bewildered to do more. I must find you, and my voice cracks with a single word. "Master…"

"I know." Tao answers in a strangely practiced tone. He is nodding solemnly, his eyes averted from mine, and he repeats the line over and over. "I know. I know."

"He's inside." Takeo adds, far more hesitantly than he should have.

Tao bites his lip with a vicious expression. He is holding back words that he doesn't want me to hear, and Takeo seems to understand this. He waves for M-21 to come near, and the three of them gather around me. I shake them free and stomp proudly through the doors.

Flowers line the walls. Notes and cards that I do not read. My eyes are searching for you, and I find you standing at the front of the room. Everyone steps aside as I make my way toward you. My steps slow, and a hush falls over the room. You are watching me, observing me approach you, and I wish you would say something. Say anything if only to hear your voice, but you simply look down at yourself lying in the wooden box. Your head resting on a red pillow. Your hands folded together. Your eyes closed as if in sleep.

Gejutel sets a hand on my shoulder, a gesture that he has only done once before when you first disappeared. My hand strikes his arm, knocking it away from me just as I had done then, but he seems to understand something that is beyond my reach. He whispers something meaningful, but I can't hear the words. I feel as though I'm falling. The room spins, but you are standing still. I can't understand how you are asleep when you are standing right beside me, but I am pleading with you to open your eyes. You must wake up, but the longer I look at you, the more I feel the world slipping away. I finally feel the numbness fall from me as the realization of my loss sets in. I can't survive this. I don't know if I want to.

**You touch my arm lightly, and I can sense you leaving. My hand reaches out to you as if I can somehow hold you here, but you turn your eyes from me to longingly look into your own face. You smile sadly, silently, and I know you cannot come back. You take your hand from my arm and step away from me as I gradually accept this truth., as I accept your death, and I bow as the image of you fades away.**


	45. Chapter 45

**Abide by Night**

"Rajak." Thin air transformed into voice and blurred into dark streaks as a figure manifested where no man had hitherto stood. Long blonde stands cut through the space behind him, still settling after the abrupt appearance and cascading down his shoulders and back like a golden waterfall. His coat hung open, loosely hugging his body rather than firmly fastened into place, and the tight fabric of his shirt clearly outlined the usually hidden muscles in his chest. He swept forward without wasting a moment to hesitation. A flock of blackbirds sprang into a chaotic and mesmerizing flight. His soft words drowned out their cries. "Come with me."

His tone had always been reserved, and the command that filled it now inflicted Rajak with more surprise than the unforeseen arrival of his father. It compelled him to follow. He obediently fell into step behind Ragar without seeking an explanation.

Part of Ragar's hair was tied back into a long ponytail, which jutted away from his head so that it swung in time to his steps. He glanced over his shoulder, and his hair struck his back, stopping the rhythmic motion. A black mask covered his mouth and jaw line and made the piercing expression in his eyes even more pronounced. They held his son sternly yet with an unusual intensity that chilled him. Ragar looked away before speaking again. "Prepare yourself."

Rajak nodded immediately, instantly raising his guard. His gaze darted through the open fields and charted the paths of the blackbirds for what may lie behind the veil of the flock. Nothing concealed itself within the few shadows that the sun had not erased. Only blackbirds darkened the sky above them, and only they darkened the earth below. Beyond this, he did not dare to inquire for what he should prepare.

"This may be difficult for you." A hint of unease crept in his voice, and the warning burned with foreboding long after the words had faded into silence.

A house stood at the edge of the clearing, swamped with tall grasses and half-consumed by a mesh of ivy that had camouflaged the outbuilding where the overhang of trees had not absorbed the light. Rajak had not noticed it until now, and unfamiliarity of it wrought a feeling as though it had been charmed.

Blackbirds eerily landed in the branches of the trees, stirring again into song. The chorus of which remained unhindered even as the walls shielded him from their presence. Ragar stood in the doorway, waiting for him to enter. Without a sound, Rajak approached an ancient oak table with warn and twisted planks. Four blades rested on the surface.

"Take what is yours." The voice of his father tore though him.

Rajak's fingers traced the hilt of one of the blades. It resonated with the souls of those whom had fallen before him, the inheritance of the clan leader, his birthright, and his own soul longed to be bound to it someday. He touched the second set of blades, but solely one soul reverberated though the weapon. A fraction of a soul. His sight flicked up to his father, but Ragar's countenance remained as unchanging as stone. Rajak removed his fingers from the second set, taking only what belonged to him, and prepared himself for the consequences of his decision.


	46. Chapter 46

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p><strong>The Waiting<strong>

He turns to look at me.

The way he looks at me.

His eyes burn through me.

And I stand waiting.

I am waiting.

I am always waiting.

He says nothing.

He never says anything.

He never says enough.

It is never enough.

He always leaves me waiting.

Waiting for a word.

Just a word.

Only one word.

There are no words.

And he is waiting.

Waiting for time.

For time he doesn't have.

For the time he lost.

The time I lost him.

And he is waiting.

Always waiting.

Waiting for the future

To leave him in the past.

It is never enough.

I am never enough.

And I am waiting.

* * *

><p>Happy New Year!<p> 


	47. Chapter 47

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>"Sometimes… Sometimes I really wonder if he has gone insane." Takeo spun the purple ribbon around one finger like a maypole and let the mask soar in the opposite direction to allow his much-needed blood supply to reach his fingertip before the reverse rotation cut off his circulation again. Wind. Unwind. Wind. Unwind. The absentminded rhythm felt more like a two-step program to increase stress than reduce it, and his fingers suddenly snapped closed, catching the mask mid-swing. The ribbon fluttered through the air, following the path it would have taken if he hadn't cut it short. "Insanity is the only reasonable excuse for this. Anything short of that, and I'll kill him."<p>

"That from you?" The corner of his lips half-curled with the makings of a smirk.

"Don't pretend that you're not annoyed too. You're more hotheaded than I am."

"Yeah, but I'm not purple." The mask nailed him in the face. M-21 instinctively caught it as it fell and launched it back at Takeo. "Don't take it out on me. I didn't pick your color."

"You're just okay with it because your color suits you!"

"Red?"

"Aggression."

"Heh." A third voice entered the conversation.

M-21 glared at the intruder. "Shut it."

"Aggression suits you perfectly." Regis held up his new mask between two fingers, proudly flaunting it. "And I'm blue. Cool and collected."

"Guess that proves Tao didn't go by the meanings." M-21 batted the mask out of his hand. A trail of blue ribbons sunk to the floor. "You're not cool at all."

"I am—" Regis cut off the retort before he proved M-21's point and turned toward Takeo. "What does purple mean?"

"It means he's sensitive and emotional."

"But if Regis' color doesn't suit him, then it follows that mine doesn't suit me." The purple ribbon had found its way around Takeo's fingers again. Wind. Unwind. "M-21 being red is just a coincidence. Purple doesn't suit me at all." Neither made a sound. "It doesn't!"

"Now that I think about it," M-21 caught Regis' eyes, "blue's a pretty classy color. Has a lot of elegance. That fits you, right?"

"And Tao's green. That would be… life?"

"Well, life of the party." M-21 cleared his throat. "What about Frankenstein?"

"He's yellow." Tao popped up behind them, instantly making himself the center of attention. "I heard my name. I'm gre—"

"Yellow?" Takeo choked out, cutting him off. Even the mask has stopped spinning from its string. "Like in cheerful?"

"You've seen him smile."

Each cringed in turn, and Regis was the first to find his voice. "Don't remind me."

"So, why'd you make me purple?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't pick the colors. The boss just got tired of seeing black all the time."


	48. Chapter 48

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p>Printer Mafia<p>

"Hey, boss?" Tao called, uncharacteristically confused, and his eyes raced back and forth across the paper, reading and rereading the same line over and over as he tried to grasp the meaning. "I thought you didn't like our old printing supply company. Isn't that why you switched to the new one?"

Frankenstein's mouth creased into an unamused flat line. "Loathe would be a more accurate term."

"'Cause we've had a few problems with them in the past, right?"

"If by 'a few problems' you mean nothing but problems, then, yes, we have had a few problems. I have stopped counting the number of times we have been over-charged on the invoices. I will have no further dealings with them."

"Then why did we order a new shipment?"

Frankenstein pinned the wireframe of his glasses between two fingers and pulled them off so that nothing interrupted his glare. "What did you say?"

"Ummm…" Tao twisted the paper behind his back.

His palms hit the desktop, and he supported his weight on locked elbows as he angrily rose to his feet. "Who ordered it?"

"Y-You see, about that..." Tao shuffled backward until his back slammed against the door and scrambled for the doorknob. "I'll just leave this here for you!" He threw the paper in the air and fled from the room.

"Just a moment." Frankenstein growled into his ear, catching him by the collar and holding him in the air as his feet flew out from under him only to dump him on the floor as soon as he had dragged him back inside. "Pick up that paper while you're down there." Circling around his desk, he pressed the button for the intercom. "Please contact Inkwell Printing and cancel any pending orders. We no longer do business with them."

"Yes, sir." A feminine voice replied and instantly disappeared to obey the command.

"Am I to assume this is your mistake?" Frankenstein slid into his chair and folded his fingers in the air. "I believe that I made it very clear that I find their work ethic unacceptable. You are aware of this. You headed the search for their replacement."

"I know." Tao clutched the paper over his heart and closed his eyes. Maybe if he just lay here and played dead, then he just might live through this.

"There will be consequences. This company was persistent enough when we first switched to the new one. For months I received unwarranted phone calls regarding their dismissal, and only recently have those subsided. To have all of that work undone by one mistake!" Frankenstein pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a tired sigh and replaced his glasses over his eyes. "Tao, why are you still on the floor?"

"I'm preparing for death."

"Hmm, that's a little extreme. I won't kill you until we're off school grounds," he murmured as he refreshed his coffee and brought his cup to his lips, holding it there as he added one more line. "As if I would bloody my office."

"About that—"

Frankenstein set the cup down on the desktop, freeing his hands to search through his files. "But this is unusual. It isn't like you to make this kind of mistake."

Tao finally got off the floor. Standing gave him a better chance should he need to make a second hasty escape. "Boss, about that…"

"Yes, what is it?"

"It wasn't me."

"It wasn't you?" Frankenstein looked up from his files. "Very few people are able to place orders on behalf of Ye Ran. Fewer still are able to place them without my final approval. If not you—"

"Excuse me, Chairman." The secretary's voice sounded over the intercom. "I have the printing supply company on the line, but they insist that I am not authorized to cancel the order since I did not create it."

"Whom do they claim created it?"

"You, sir."

"Me?"

"Yes, sir. I tried to dissuade them, but they were adamant that you created the order."

"That's what I was trying to tell you," Tao whispered, nervously placing the invoice on the desk and underlining Frankenstein's name with his finger. "I thought that maybe it was a mistake?"

"Impossible."

"Yeah, you don't make mistakes. Not like this."

Frankenstein narrowed his eyes to inform him that the last part wasn't needed.

"Right!" Tao agreed instantly. "You don't make mistakes, not at all! It was probably their mistake, not yours."

"Of course it was." Pacified, Frankenstein easily adopted the explanation. "This company has a history of errors with us. It is reasonable to believe that this mistake is no different than any of their previous ones. I have no record of ever making the order. I would like to see proof that I ordered this shipment." He pressed the button for his secretary again. "I will accept the call. Patch it through."

"Yes, sir." She stated matter-of-factly and, just like the first time, silently disappeared to fulfill her mission. Her voice reappeared on the line within seconds. "Chairman, I cannot complete the transfer."

"What happened?"

"They refused to be transferred and hung up. Shall I call them back?"

"No, I will handle it from here." Frankenstein dialed the number from memory and entered the correct extensions without listening to the prompts. "Tao, pull up this order in their system. I want to see how they obtained it."

"Good morning!" A chipper voice greeted them although it was well into the afternoon. "Thank you for choosing Inkwell Printing as your printing supply source! How can I help you today?"

"Hello, I am calling in regard to order number 1565156795."

"Please hold while I look it up." The employee answered, and music instantly began to play.

"I have it." Tao positioned his phone so that Frankenstein could see the screen as he maneuvered through the order. "Their system was relatively easy to hack even for a civilian site. They don't put much thought into security, not that that would have stopped me."

"And the creator of the order?"

"It was created internally, but they made an annotation to use your name. Pretty shady if you ask me."

"Sorry about the wait." The employee said rotely. "I have your order pulled up. How can I help you?"

"I would simply like to cancel it."

"Sure, may I ask who is calling?"

"Yes, I am the chairman of Ye Ran."

"Oh, sorry, I'm unable to cancel this. It looks like the order has already shipped."

"What do you mean?" Aura seeped into the room unabated as if the chilling atmosphere could somehow influence someone through the telephone line. "Do you expect me to believe this order has already shipped when it was still active a few minutes ago when my secretary spoke to your company on the phone?"

"Yes, it can happen pretty quickly sometimes. We're quite fast. Well, it looks like your issue has been resolved. Thanks for choosing Inkwell Printing!" The line went dead.

Frankenstein pried his fingers from the receiver one by one before it crumbled into a twisted heap of plastic and metal. "He dared to hang up on me."

Tao backed away, giving himself a head start for an escape although the same distance hadn't helped him earlier. "About the order…"

Frankenstein glared, warning him to make it worth his time.

"It hasn't actually shipped. I can cancel it for you."

"No, let it come." A smile eerily spread across Frankenstein's face. "I will accept this challenge."

"What are you going to do when it arrives? We never ordered this."

"I'll burn it." Frankenstein nonchalantly sipped from his coffee cup and grinned into the liquid. "After all, this is war."

-F. V. 

This was a challenge from a friend. Inkwell Printing doesn't exist as far as I know.


	49. Chapter 49

Disclaimer: Noblesse isn't mine.

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><p><strong>Bedtime Stories<strong>

"Can it be about anything?" Takeo removed his shoes and aligned them perpendicular to the wall. Frankenstein was as peculiar about the placement of their shoes as he was about anything else in the house. If they were even a millimeter out of place, that man would know.

"I don't know." Regis already stood in the living room but waited for Rai to take his usual place before he sat down himself. "The teacher did not specify whether it focused on the time of reading or the subject matter."

"Heh."

"What?" Regis frowned, glaring back at M-21.

"You really think it would be called that because of the time that it's read? You've never heard of a morning story, have you? A lunchtime story? What a joke."

"You never heard about bedtime stories until today, either."

M-21 carelessly threw his shoes down. "I—"

"But there are post-apocalyptic novels or historical novels." Tao interrupted before the argument could take off. "Maybe it has to do with the setting? Although bedtime is a narrow time frame. Must be a short book."

"Even you don't know?" Takeo slid over to make room for him on the couch.

"Why would I?" Tao asked but then shrugged. "I was interested in e-books and e-readers for awhile, but that was because of their computer aspects, not their content. Give me a sec. I'll look it up."

"I don't think looking it up is allowed for the assignment." Regis pulled a neatly folded paper from his pocket. "This says I must write a short essay about my own experience with bedtime stories as a child."

"But you don't have any experience." Takeo took the paper from him and read it over. "I suppose you could just create the experience now. You're technically still a child."

"Am I able to do that?"

"What do you think, Tao?"

"Hmm?" Tao glanced up.

"Did you find anything?"

"_Bedtime Stories_ is a movie. I was just watching it."

"It's not a book?" M-21 shot a grin at Regis and mouthed the words a second time. "It's not even a book."

"Maybe the movie was based on the book?" Regis walked behind Tao to see the screen.

"There are also books. Some are about bedtime, but others are about different subjects. That doesn't clarify whether subject matter or the time of reading is the main point, though. I'll run a quick analysis of a few thousand titles and tell you which one will be the most—"

Takeo set a hand on Regis' shoulder. "Maybe you should ask the teacher?"

"You could ask Frankenstein."

They all looked at M-21.

"What? You think he doesn't know?"

"Yeah, he'd know." Tao shut his laptop, suspending his research. "Go ask him."

"Why should I?" M-21 leaned back into his seat and met Regis' eyes. "If a noble can't even complete an assignment made for human children—"

"Alright, I'll ask him." Tao shoved the laptop into Takeo's hands and jumped to his feet. "I'm sure he'd love to know you said that about his master."

"What?"

"We're in the same class." Regis proudly straightened in his chair. "And you said a noble—"

"Fine." M-21 grumbled and stomped down the hallway. His steps lightened as he approached Frankenstein's office. No need to let that man see how miserably he was asking. "Hey." He knocked once as a formality and let himself in before anyone invited him. "Regis needs some help with his homework. Doesn't know what a bedtime story is."

"If it is Regis' assignment, why are you asking me?"

"I'm just a nice guy."

"How suspicious." Frankenstein looked up, unamused. "Care to tell me the real reason?"

"If you don't want to help, don't. I'm just asking since it's a _class_ assignment."

"I see." Frankenstein rose from his chair and immediately left the room. "I will address the issue presently."

"Yeah, alright." M-21 returned to the living room and sat down next to Takeo so that he acted as a barrier between him and Tao. "He's coming," he announced to everyone and no one. They could see Frankenstein for themselves.

"I understand you have a question on an assignment." Frankenstein stood next to his master with his arm slanted over his stomach, but he addressed the question to Regis.

"I have to write a short paper." Regis smoothed out the creases from the assignment sheet and offered it to Frankenstein hesitantly. "It's about my experience with bedtime stories. I believe this is something all human children are expected to have."

"I can explain the concept." Frankenstein returned the paper after reading it over. "A bedtime story is typically a short story read to a child before sleep. This is often read from a picture book. The reader will read a line and display the corresponding picture to the listener or listeners. The central themes vary vastly. These can include fairy tales—"

"Like _Little Red Riding Hood_?" Tao was suddenly on his feet. "Is that a bedtime story?"

"Yes, that is a good example."

"Could you read one to us?" Tao looked at Regis and smiled too brightly not to be planning something. "That's part of the assignment, right? The experience."

"I do not have any on hand," Frankenstein said slowly, unwillingly.

"I do!" He ran from the room and returned moments later with a book.

"Why do you have this?" Frankenstein frowned.

"I was going to use it on M-21, but I like this better. It works, right?"

M-21 sunk back into his chair, using Takeo to hide him from Tao's sight. "Read something else."

"It's the only one I have," Tao replied, undeterred, "and I'm not even using it on you. But I could if you—"

"Fine, just read it."

"_Little Red Riding Hood_." Frankenstein read the title and held up the cover to his master before turning it to face the others. "Once upon a time..." He repeated the process as he flipped through the pages. Pictures of a little girl in a red cape flashed by. A wolf swallowed her grandmother before donning her clothes and hiding in her bed. The little girl walked in and said, "What big eyes you have, Grandmother."

"I don't think M-21's eyes are that big," Regis said, absentmindedly.

Tao leaned forward to see around Takeo. "That's because he glares so much."

"It's not me." M-21 sunk lower. "Knock it off."

"What big hands you have," Frankenstein continued, ignoring the others as much as possible just to get this over with.

"When he transforms..." Takeo whispered, trailing his own hands with his fingertips. "His nails..."

M-21 squeezed his hands into fists. "It's not me."

"What a big mouth you have."

M-21 pressed his lips.

"All the better to eat you with!" Frankenstein turned the page to show the big bad wolf trying to gobble down the little girl.

"You ate her?" Regis cringed then shot a look at M-21. "Eating her grandmother wasn't vile enough? You had to eat a child as well?"

Frankenstein cleared his throat and turned the page. A man with an ax found the little girl's cottage and the wolf inside. He raised his ax and—

"What!" M-21 screamed, his fists slamming against the tabletop. He lifted one hand to his stomach as if feeling for the wounds the other wolf had suffered. No one said anything.

Frankenstein shut the book. "Perhaps we have had enough of this story for tonight."

-Vapor

A/N: This was a request that I wrote some time ago.


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